Now Serving at the SoMa StrEat Food Park: Haircuts

Originally appeared on SFGate.

The buzzing of clippers is filling the air at SoMa StrEat Food Park, as an unlikely partnership between local barbershops and the food truck space kicked off this week with the allowance of outdoor haircuts in San Francisco starting Tuesday.

Barbershops, salons and nail shop owners have all been anxiously awaiting for the moment the city would give the OK to reopen, but plans for the food-haircut hybrid space began as soon as Gov. Gavin Newsom indicated about a month ago that stylists could soon set up outdoors.

SoMa StrEat Food Park owner Carlos Muela said he was approached by a friend and neighbor at the San Francisco Barber Shop after Newsom's announcement, and he asked whether Muela would be interested in a collaboration with barbers, given the abundance of space at SoMa StrEat Food Park.

"Here at SoMa StrEat Food Park, we have about 20,000 square feet of outdoor space and we weren't opening up," Muela told SFGATE. "We were allowed to open back up as a food truck park, but it just wouldn't have made sense here, because we really relied on the people that worked around here and their offices — and there's just none of that anymore. So we didn't want to open up as a food truck park and we were just kind of waiting to see what direction we would take this place. And this whole thing with the barber idea just came about, and we went for it."

SoMa StrEat Food Park is partnering with local barbers, turning its food truck space into part-barbershop as the city of San Francisco finally allowed outdoor haircuts to start this week.

The park went about setting up the outdoor space with barber pods over the past month, just waiting for the green light from the city to open. For now, just over 20 barbers have signed up to cut hair at SoMa StrEat Food Park, but Muelas said the outdoor space could accommodate as many as 30 to 40 people for personal services — and they're hoping to expand to salon and nail services. (Muela said interested salon owners can contact him via the website.)

"We have a really large space and that's the thing, we didn't want to just have one [barber]," Muela said. "There's a lot of barbers out of business. There's a lot of salons out of business. We have a huge space and a huge asset. We want to create space for everybody."

Of course, it wouldn't be SoMa StrEat Food Park without food and drinks; food trucks are open as well, and there are areas to sit and grab a bite to eat, whether you're getting a haircut or not.

"It's just a nice outdoor cozy environment," Muela said, "and at the same time, it's a safe and clean environment to be able to get a haircut."

SoMa StrEat Food Park is located at 428 11th St. in San Francisco and is open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Haircuts are available by appointment on the SoMa StrEat Food Park website, and walk-ins are accepted as well.