✨ YORK STREET COFFEE, YOUR FAVORITE GARAGE-GROWN COFFEE GATHERING PLACE, IS PUTTING ON SOME BIG KID PANTS THIS SUMMER! We’re currently building out a space at 4 Embarcadero Center (by the Ferry Building) and we need your help to make this super quick launch happen!

Picture this, living your Saturday morning farmer’s market dream and walking over to friend’s making you coffee and decaf drinks. Beside us is the best vegan donut popup in the city, Whack Donuts, slinging thai tea and mocha pastries. There’s a massive plaza where people are hanging out and talking. There’s a weekend special drink: a thai basil & coconut cream latte. This is our vision of York Street Cafe, and after over 40 events and thousands of coffees served, we’re excited to test this concept for real. We have a grant from the city to get us off the ground, but it’s not enough to buy all the expensive components to make an espresso shop possible. We need your help to get us off the ground! Consider supporting if you want to see York Street Cafe grow into a small business in San Francisco.

Funds will be used to build our espresso cart, renovate the space, and pay staff in the first month of operations. San Francisco is one of the hardest places to run a business and we want to do it right.

——————————————————

IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD OF YORK STREET CAFE

I (Anand) started York Street Cafe with my lovely roommates when we moved to the Mission district of San Francisco in 2021 - onto York Street. We wanted to be active participants in our neighborhood and create a low-barrier way for folks to meet each other. Remember, this was still masking-indoors days, so to have an outdoor space to feel part of a community was pretty special. We’ve brought over 20 bakers, artists, and other cool vendors to our popups which ran twice a month. This whole project is more about community-building in San Francisco after the devastating pandemic - than it is about coffee. It’s about creating a tight woven net of creatives. Check out the journey on Instagram.

WHAT WE'RE SPENDING THE MONEY ON

The main costs are upgrading our coffee setup to handle larger morning rushes for that we'll need: espresso machine ($5100), espresso grinder ($1100), water system with filtration ($500), commercial fridge ($800), and drip coffee brewer ($300). We're also estimating $3k for remodeling the space ourselves and another $1500 for smallwares. That puts us at around $13,000 in upfront costs with $5k coming from other grants.

ABOUT THE GRANT

Vacant to Vibrant is a program of SF New Deal. They help small businesses like us collaborate with local property owners to create engaging pop-up experiences and community spaces in downtown San Francisco. We’re super proud to be part of their first batch of popups.

I’m so hyped to be partnering with Vandor Hill of Whack Donuts who was actually the first bakery popup we ever collabbed with back in 2021. Now, 2 years later, we got a downtown SF revitalization grant together, called Vacant to Vibrant. Revitalize Downtown. With 16 other popups, we’re going to bring new creative ideas to spaces that have literally stayed empty for years. We HAVE a space near the Ferry Building ready to go - now we need your help to launch

OUR COLLABORATION WITH WHACK DONUTS

Vandor and I met about two years ago and have been kindred spirits ever since. He’s like an older brother to me, and we both share mutual respect of each others’ craft. Funds for this campaign will help out the joint space that we will be running.

‍ ABOUT ANAND UPENDER

Hey I’m Anand :) I like making people smile, often through tasty bites, weird coffee drinks, and really solid service. I really value meeting new people and forging connections between folks who would’ve otherwise not met. I’ve been in food my whole life, but professionally for the past two years doing everything from cooking at Michelin starred restaurants to supporting other food nonprofits. DM me on insta: @anandupender

SPECIAL THANKS

There are too many people to count that have helped support this project. First off, to my parents for their constant support of my unconventional career ambitions. Next to my roommates who have given their time, love, and cars to York Street Cafe. After that, to all the mentors out there and SF small businesses that took a chance on us and gave us an even louder platform. Finally, to all the York Street community - we wouldn’t be here without you.