San Francisco Coffee Roasting Company is dialing up its Atlanta presence with two new shops this year, including a Midtown cafe set to debut this Saturday and a larger Druid Hills outpost expected later this summer. The 30-year-old roaster, long anchored by its Virginia-Highland flagship and Candler Park shop, says the new spots will double down on its small-batch roasting and familiar neighborhood coffeehouse feel.
As reported by What Now Atlanta, owners Doug and Tanya Bond are opening a Midtown location at 1441 Peachtree St. NE this Saturday and have signed a lease at the Sage Hill shopping center in Druid Hills. The Midtown cafe will sit inside the Loria Ansley development near 17th Street, with plans for a roomy outdoor patio and rotating displays of local art. The Bonds and their team say the location is tailored to nearby office workers, MARTA riders and students who need a caffeine fix with a side of Wi-Fi.
According to San Francisco Coffee Roasting Company, the business currently lists shops in Virginia-Highland, Candler Park and on the Georgia Tech campus, with the Midtown address at 1441 Peachtree Street NE marked as opening this spring. The site highlights that all beans are roasted in-house and notes a lineup of seasonal and year-round drinks backed by a pastry and food program.
Where the new shops will be
According to Rough Draft Atlanta, the Midtown cafe will occupy a ground-floor space in the Loria Ansley building on Peachtree, while the Druid Hills shop will land in the Sage Hill shopping center off Briarcliff Road. What Now Atlanta reports the Sage Hill location is being designed as an approximately 2,700-square-foot store that the Bonds hope to use in part for bottling coffee and expanding their food offerings. Both outlets note that the Midtown storefront will open directly onto Peachtree, allowing for an expansive front patio and plenty of street-facing seating.
Menu and vibe
San Francisco Coffee says it plans to bring its house-roaster style to the new locations, with small-batch beans roasted at the Virginia-Highland facility feeding a menu built around espresso drinks, cold brew and fresh baked goods. According to San Francisco Coffee Roasting Company, seasonal specialties will rotate alongside a core menu, and both new shops are expected to offer quick grab-and-go options as well as space for lingering over laptops and catch-up conversations. The goal is a neighborhood coffeehouse that works as well for early-morning commuters as it does for afternoon study sessions.
Longtime local roots
Doug and Tanya Bond opened the first San Francisco Coffee in Virginia-Highland in 1992 and have been woven into Atlanta's coffee scene ever since. Doug called the Virginia-Highland shop "a pretty legendary place" in an interview with Rough Draft Atlanta, and the couple said they had been eyeing the Sage Hill area for years before finally landing the lease. They describe the current expansion as a mix of calculated risk and slow, steady local growth.
Soft openings are expected to roll out as construction wraps and teams get up to speed, with the Bonds planning to share exact hours and grand opening details as each shop comes online. For Atlanta's coffee crowd, the new locations mark one of the more prominent recent expansions by a long-running independent roaster in the city's dining landscape.
