BoothEconomy · July 6, 2026
San Francisco’s newest coffee entrepreneurs are building brands one weekend pop-up at a time — launching heritage-driven concepts in bars, vintage shops, and pottery studios before they’re ready to sign a lease.
Nâu Coffee, co-founded by Hân Tran and Kiên Nguyen — both Ho Chi Minh City natives working day jobs in consulting and finance — debuted publicly in September 2025 and has since drawn hour-long lines to events in the Mission District. The duo pours traditional Vietnamese phin slow-drip coffee alongside egg, salt, and pandan variants, and has held 11 events at venues including Millay wine bar on 14th Street, where they plan to begin weekly pop-ups July 12. A few neighborhoods away, Foozool — Niaz Khorrami’s Iranian American–inspired coffee concept — holds monthly events at Uncommon SF vintage shop on Balboa Street, using coffee as a cultural vehicle; the next pop-up is July 26.
The path from pop-up to permanent is well-worn in the city. Third Wheel, founded by Thomas Emanuel and Vida Sharp in April 2021, ran an extended pop-up at Lucinda’s Deli for four years before opening on Oak Street. Wrecking Ball Coffee founder Trish Rothgeb operated as a pop-up for three years before landing her Union Street shop. Brandon Sardi launched Poorboy Coffee with $500 and a five-gallon cold-brew bucket — then graduated to residencies, catering, and roasting. San Francisco latte orders climbed 21 percent between January and May 2025, according to Square data, signaling a market with room for new entrants.
Long lines at the Nâu Coffee pop-up this morning in San Francisco.
— Aaron Tolentino (@ATolent2) February 22, 2026
They serve a variety of Vietnamese coffee and have drawn massive crowds and hour-long waits since launching monthly pop-ups last summer. pic.twitter.com/73TpVTOWr8
Why it matters: The pop-up format is doing real economic work here — it’s the low-overhead entry point that lets first-generation operators reach customers without a lease before they’re ready for one. The concentration of heritage-driven concepts (Vietnamese phin filters, Iranian-American culture-through-coffee) points to something larger: the pop-up format is particularly suited to founders who want to lead with identity, not just a product category.
Source: The pop-up boom is remaking San Francisco’s coffee scene — SF Standard
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