if you google, you can find a reddit thread that has the full text.
The tl;dr is that he paid $7,500 * 24 months ($180,000) in rent before deciding to give up. 1 year of that was held up by competitors directly nearby filing to block his permits, so he had to wait for court case. The other year was in architecture planning and permits (which included health permits since it was food related). And he then estimated an additional $120k (plus ongoing rent) to actually build, so he gave up.
Prop-H apparently did away with the anti-competitive allowance of nearby businesses to object and it forces the city to respond to permit request in 30 days. But unfortunately, he has already enriched a landlord for two years in the process.