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Sun Bear Specialty Coffee Roasters opened its first standalone cafe in St. Petersburg, Florida, in late July. The 1,200-square-foot cafe is paired with an adjoining roasting space, following about five years of sales through markets, pop-ups and local businesses.
Sun Bear Specialty Coffee Roasters opened its first standalone cafe in St. Petersburg, Florida, in late July, moving the company from markets, pop-ups and shared retail spaces into a dedicated cafe with an adjoining roasting area. The opening gives the five-year-old business a permanent place to serve its coffees and roast for wholesale clients.
The cafe occupies 1,200 square feet and has a retro design inspired by the company’s 1970s branding. Daily Coffee News reported features including a butter-yellow tiled bar, red shelving, pendant lights, natural wood and stainless steel. A separate, adjoining 800-square-foot roasting space houses a Yoshan roaster used for cafe and wholesale coffee.
The menu includes espresso drinks, cold brew, drip coffee and other beverages. An Ethiopian Guji coffee often serves as the espresso base, while manual pourovers feature washed coffees and co-fermented offerings. Some drinks use house-made syrups or additions such as dragon fruit cold foam. Pastries and light bites come from outside vendors; Sun Bear does not prepare food on site, owner Kenny Beers told Daily Coffee News.
The cafe held its grand opening on July 26, with several bands playing. Sun Bear is located at 1942 1st Ave S. The company closed its coffee bar inside St. Petersburg’s Sans Market at the end of May as it shifted its focus to the new location.
A Permanent Home for Sun Bear
The cafe gives Sun Bear a dedicated customer-facing location and room to roast coffee for both its own service and wholesale clients. That changes the scale and visibility of a business that had spent about five years selling through markets, pop-ups and local businesses, including its smaller Sans Market bar.
The new setup also brings roasting and coffee service together at one address. Sun Bear can offer visitors espresso, brewed coffee and pourovers while using the adjoining space to supply its cafe and wholesale accounts. Beers told Daily Coffee News that the roasting space is still small, but an improvement over roasting in his garage.
The shift carries practical limits: the source report does not give production volumes, wholesale account numbers or sales figures. The opening establishes a new operating base, while the company’s plans to reach more customers across the United States remain future goals.
From Cambodia to St. Petersburg
Before starting the coffee business, Beers taught music in Cambodia. There, he befriended Kakada Nub, a roaster and barista who had placed prominently in Cambodian national barista competitions. Nub taught Beers the basics of roasting. Beers returned to the United States after the COVID-19 pandemic began and formally established Sun Bear in 2021.
The company developed its coffee program through local sales, focusing on lightly roasted single-origin coffees, including coffees with experimental post-harvest processing. Beers told Daily Coffee News that the business works with importers Unblended, Cafe Imports and Cofinet, along with some producers through direct relationships. The new cafe follows Sun Bear’s eventual move into a small bar inside Sans Market.
Sun Bear’s design draws on Beers’ interest in late-1960s and early-1970s music and pop culture. He told Daily Coffee News the team had a strong design direction for the cafe, with a Pinterest board full of ideas, even though the space itself was already promising.
““We were very disciplined with this one thing.””
— Kenny Beers, Sun Bear Coffee owner, speaking to Daily Coffee News
Scale of Expansion Remains Open
Sun Bear has said it wants to expand its roasting reach across the United States and has added subscription services through Crema.co and Bottomless. The report does not specify the geographic reach, launch dates or expected volume for those efforts. It also provides no figures for the cafe’s sales, roasting capacity or wholesale business, so the opening’s commercial effect cannot yet be measured from the available information.
Subscriptions and Wider Distribution
Beers said Sun Bear’s next steps include the added subscription services and efforts to extend its roasting reach across the country. The company has not announced a schedule or detailed milestones for that expansion. For now, the cafe at 1942 1st Ave S is the company’s new base for serving customers and roasting coffee for its own menu and wholesale clients.
Key Questions
Where is Sun Bear’s new cafe?
It is at 1942 1st Ave S in St. Petersburg, Florida.
When did the cafe open?
The cafe opened in late July 2026. Its grand opening, which included several bands, was held July 26.
Does Sun Bear roast coffee at the cafe?
Yes. An adjoining 800-square-foot roasting space houses a Yoshan machine used to roast coffee for the cafe and wholesale clients.
What food does the cafe serve?
Pastries and light bites are supplied by outside vendors. Beers told Daily Coffee News that Sun Bear does not make food on site.
What does Sun Bear plan to do next?
Beers said the company has added subscription services through Crema.co and Bottomless and wants to expand its roasting reach across the United States. The report did not give a timeline or specific distribution targets.
Source: rss
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