Boba Guys Continues Rapid Expansion With Planned Fillmore Street Location

Boba Guys Continues Rapid Expansion With Planned Fillmore Street Location

Photo: Lisa Pollack/Hoodline

Lisa Pollack
Published on December 01, 2016

Mega-popular boba tea shop Boba Guys is continuing to ride a tidal wave of expansion, with a new location slated to open in the Fillmore. The company, which has locations in the Mission, Union Square, and most recently, Hayes Valley, already has plans to move into a former auto shop on Divisadero next year, and is plotting both a Potrero Hill location and a second New York outpost, according to the Chronicle.

While owners Bin Chen and Andrew Chau declined to comment, a store employee at Boba Guys' Hayes Valley shop confirmed the addition of the Fillmore location, adding that it may open as soon as mid-December.

The space at 1522 Fillmore, right next door to Wise Sons Bagel & Bakery and across the street from State Bird Provisions, is currently a boba black hole, having been home to at least three other now-closed bubble tea businesses. (The most recent, T4 You, closed earlier this month.)

Boba Guys got its start in 2011 as a pop-up within the Mission’s Ken Ken Ramen. Its take on Taiwanese bubble tea, using high-quality ingredients like organic milk and housemade syrups, quickly built a loyal following.

Chen and Chau opened their first stand-alone shop in the Mission in 2013; Union Square followed in 2014, and the Hayes Valley location, the company's flagship, made its debut this June. (The company's first New York location, on the Lower East Side, opened in January.)

San Franciscans may see still more Boba Guys on the way. A recent award description from Square’s BRASSYs Awards notes that "Boba Guys now has four stores in San Francisco and two in New York, with more to come.”