Popular Orcutt bakery struggling to reopen after suffering extensive flood damage

ORCUTT, Calif. -- A locally-owned Orcutt bakery is struggling to reopen after being damaged from flooding earlier this month.

Orcutt Bakery, located in the Acorn Plaza shopping center near the busy intersection of Clark Avenue and South Bradley Road, has been closed for three three weeks after suffering extensive storm damage.

"On January 4th, we came home from a two-week vacation. Our neighbors next door called us and said they could hear a waterfall in our bakery," said Shawn Gerber, who owns the business, along with his wife Danielle. "We got our son. We came out at night. We got halfway towards the back and we could start feeling water. It was coming up towards the front end of the bakery, and we opened the bathroom door and there was a waterfall coming from the ceiling."

Gerber added the rainwater entered the building through a leak on the roof, which ruined significant portions of the interior, including the restroom, flooring and equipment.

"It destroyed the entire bathroom and the front of the house," said Gerber. "We've had to turn away customers. We have one of our biggest holidays coming up, Valentine's Day. I don't know if we're going to be open for that."

Adding to the Gerbers woes, they said their insurance has fully denied their claim.

“Our insurance denied the claim because it's not covered," said Gerber. "Our insurance covers inside the building, where it's our responsibility. Everything outside, including the roof, and a leak in the roof is their (property management's) responsibility.”

With the bakery closed indefinitely until repairs are made, it has left the family without a source of income.

"It's devastating financially and emotionally," said Gerber. "Mortgage is due in a couple of days and I don't have any money for it. It's hard enough to do business, and now I have to deal with this, and I don't even know when I'm going to be open."

The Gerbers, who have owned the business for eight years, are hoping for assistance from their property management company so they can repair the damages and reopen as soon as possible.

"I just get told, be patient, be patient, be patient," said Gerber. "Insurance takes a long time. I'm waiting for another week. My insurance has already denied because it's not their responsibility to maintain the outside of the building. It took two weeks for their insurance to come out. They say it's going to take another two weeks."

For now, a sign is taped to the front door of the business alerting customers to the situation, and to follow the bakery on social media for updates.

"I have peeked in and it looks pretty bad," said customer John Wood. "There is extensive damage. I'm sure it's going to be very expensive to fix all that. We're all just kind of bummed because we like our local little sweet shop."

To help them through the difficult times, the Gerbers are looking for support from their customers and neighbors. An online donation campaign has been created to provide them with a financial boost.

"I think that's awesome," said Wood. "I hope everyone can help them as much as they can. That's the whole point of being a community. It's helping out each other when there's need."

The local property manager in Bakersfield provided the following comments on the damages:

Regarding the water damage at the Orcutt Bakery, the situation is very unfortunate and tragic, our goal is to do all we can to ensure the business is operating as soon as possible.  Our interests are totally aligned.  To that end, there is a process that is followed whenever there is water damage and an insurance claim is initiated.    

During a rainstorm on January 5th, ponding occurred on the roof of the property  that damaged the Orcutt Bakery.    

After receiving reports of the damage, we retained a licensed bonded restoration vendor for mitigation and they arrived at the premises on January 5th at 8AM.  We also had a roofer complete repairs and remediation efforts in between the subsequent episodes of rain.  

Rain continued for the next 6 days, peaking on January 9th, with a 24 hour rain total that day of 3.42" and no further leaks were identified.  

Soon after the event, insurance carriers for the property owner and the owners of the bakery were engaged and claims opened by both carriers.  Adjusters for both insurance companies have been to the property and are working together to identify the scope of work covered by their respective policies.  This process can take a couple of weeks and the process to rebuild cannot take place until both insurance companies are in agreement and authorization to do so has been given.     

We feel like we have done everything in our power to address this unfortunate event, and have been in regular contact with the owners of the bakery.  The owners were not happy with the process or the progress and contacted me to voice their concerns.  I assured them we were following our company procedures and industry best practices related to water damage as well as the insurance claim process (which can be quite a challenge).  Fortunately, we have experience dealing with insurance companies and we will continue to push for a resolution as soon as possible.  I shared this with the owners of the bakery and while things may not be moving as fast as we would like, our sense of urgency to get their business reopened is the highest priority.

Chris Gnekow, Chief Operating Officer at M.D. Atkinson Company, Inc.