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One consequence of aging is the realization that the businesses one thought of as everlasting will, in fact, someday close due to death, retirement, changing trends or, sadly frequently, fire (as in the case of historic restaurants Giusti’s Place in Walnut Grove or Sam’s Hof Brau in Sacramento).

But some businesses can hang on by undergoing an ownership change — a rebirth of sorts. The first months after the transition can hold anxiety for the former patrons of the business. Will the place feel the same, less welcoming, or maybe even — better? 

Four well-loved Sacramento businesses have recently undergone ownership changes, ranging from arguably the oldest business in the area to one that is just over two years old.

A saloon that spans three centuries

On the older end is The Trap, a historic bar that was purchased by father and daughter Gregg and Mariah Lukenbill in 2022. Gregg, a semi-retired contractor, is revered in Sacramento for helping to bring the Kings to the city and developing Arco Arena. Meanwhile, energetic and chipper Mariah manages day-to-day operations. 

She explains how her lifelong dream of opening a business was initially centered around a coffee shop in which students could study at all hours — but she seems right at home pouring a foamy brew. Mariah has plans for every inch of The Trap, while preserving the character of the building, which was built possibly as early as the 1860s and has served as a saloon since 1897.

Besides doing the painstaking reconstruction work on the bar, Mariah says that her dad (a “big ham fan”) hectored food truck chef Richard Winston to make a ham sandwich until the elder Lukenbill finally just dropped off pounds of ham at the bar. The Gregg Lukenbill special was born: grilled ham and American cheese on sourdough.  

Winston, a former regular who met his wife at the bar, offers a menu of bar basics, such as smashburgers and fries. Mariah strives to keep the menu affordable for the patrons (the items range from $7-15) and neighborhood residents. 

Other changes besides the food include an expanded backyard (with future plans for a stage and live entertainment), an expansion and redo of the formerly “awful” bathrooms, and 12 taps for beer, an addition that was unexpectedly complicated and took two years. 

Mariah has changed the beer from solely bottles of American mega-brews to a mix of those and local craft beers, but she knew she couldn’t go full craft beer bar, saying, “The Trap regulars that have been coming here forever — I have my ‘daytime boys,’ as I call them — that are here every day at noon, and they are very loyal to their Coors Light, Budweiser and things like that. But the draft beer has brought in much more of a crowd now than I think The Trap has ever had.” 

From institution to icon

With its interior rock wall, sparkly popcorn ceiling and mirror-backed wooden bar, Zelda’s Pizza, which founder Zelda Breslin opened in 1978, has long felt like a time capsule. But now that it has a new ownership team composed of Breslin’s son Kerry Matthews, Beau Cornell and Jon Stevenson (former owner of baby sock brand Trumpette) serving as a business consigliere, it has regained a bit of a ‘70s, libidinous edge. Zelda’s has started to show up in the Instagram posts of the restaurant industry cool kids, and the bar is often packed.

Cornell, who worked for the past 13 years in the wine business, was a regular at the bar. After he was laid off, he was on a trip to Thailand when he heard the upsetting news that Zelda’s was closing for good. He decided to act. He negotiated the sale over the phone, helped by Carol Massa, the longtime manager (since 1984), who he has retained as an employee along with the majority of the staff.

The decor has been slightly altered, with a bit brighter lighting and more art on the walls, touches which Cornell refers to as a “putting a little lipstick and rouge on the old girl.” He has mostly left the menu intact, including the much-loved (yet divisive) deep-dish Chicago-style pizza. 

When asked about his vision for the rebirth of Zelda’s, he says adamantly, “The thing is, everybody in town already knows that Zelda’s is an institution. It’s been here 47 years now. And what I want to push it into is an icon. I want it to go from institution to icon. And the way we’re going to do that is we’re going to brand Zelda in a way that’s sexy and cool, and give her the goddamn consideration she deserves.”

A Michelin star and a neighborhood bistro

At the helm of Michelin-starred Localis, Chris Barnum-Dann is one of the preeminent chefs in Sacramento, but he feels like “he’s more pigeonholed as a fine-dining chef,” he says. That changed when Colleen Fleming, owner of Betty Wine Bar and Bottle Shop (open since 2022), called. 

“Colleen reached out to me just literally out of the blue one day, and was like, ‘I’m moving out of state. I have this wine bar I’m looking for someone to buy. I feel like you’d be a great fit,’” he says. “So we started talking. I was the only grandchild of and very close with my nana, Betty. So it obviously felt a little bit meant to be.”

The reopening comes with quite a bit of change: longer hours (9 a.m.-9 p.m., seven days a week), a coffee program to go along with the early opening time (run by Sam Han, formerly of coffee pop-up Everyday Having Fun), tables for more indoor seating, and, not least, a totally new menu crowned by a $15 version of the same Thai-influenced ceviche that Barnum-Dann says is a “fan favorite” at Localis.

Consistency comes with him keeping on much of the staff, while bringing in Chef Amanda Smith, who has worked with him for the last six years at Localis. He proudly notes that he plans to offer ownership stakes to some of the employees after a year.

His vision for the new Betty is a Parisian-style bistro. “You can walk down the street and sit down at any place that’s open from morning till night. You can go for breakfast, you can go for lunch, you can go for dinner, you can go for a late night drink,” he says. “I don’t think we really have that in Sacramento.” 

Meet the adoptive parents

For a decade-old business, The Allspicery has been on a journey almost as long and winding as the Spice Route. Founder Heather Wong won a Sacramento Downtown Partnership Calling All Dreamers grant in 2015 and opened in a small nook on 11th Street, across from the Capitol. Wong had success with the business, but in summer 2022 she let it be known that she was looking to sell. 

Jennifer Kaye, who owned the K Street bakery About a Bite from 2011 to 2016, decided to buy — but from the beginning, she and her sister Judy Tyzzer knew the eventual goal was to move. “We weren’t crazy about the location, having been on K Street myself,” Kaye says — the bakery had a storefront there in its last year. “But we knew we needed to get our feet wet, figure out what the heck we were doing. Never having owned a spice business before, we had a lot to learn. We still have a lot to learn!”

The new space in East Sacramento opened in 2024; they had a blockbuster holiday season and are loving the increased parking and space. They’ve been able to double their inventory, Tyzzer says, “We can add more companion products, like Rancho Gordo beans … hot sauces and cards from local folks.”

When asked whether they resonate with the theme of businesses reborn, Tyzzer hedges a bit, saying, “We said it to Heather, ‘You’re the birth mom, we’re the adoptive parents.’ We will nurture it. We will grow it. But we’re not going to change it. I think that’s really what we’ve done. We’ve stayed true to what she built.” 

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