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Sun Bear Specialty Coffee Roasters opened its first standalone cafe in St. Petersburg, Florida, in late July 2026, featuring a 1970s-inspired design, on-site roasting, and a menu built around lightly roasted single-origin coffees. The opening follows roughly five years of sales at markets, pop-ups and a bar inside Sans Market, which closed in May.
Sun Bear Specialty Coffee Roasters has opened its first standalone cafe in St. Petersburg, Florida, capping roughly five years of selling coffee through markets, pop-ups and other local businesses with a permanent home of its own. The 1,200-square-foot cafe, which opened in late July and held its grand opening on July 26, combines a 1970s-inspired interior with a roasting operation in an adjoining space, according to a report by Daily Coffee News.
The cafe, located at 1942 1st Ave S in St. Petersburg, seats guests in a room designed around Sun Bear’s retro branding: a butter-yellow tiled bar, red shelving, pendant lights, and a mix of natural wood and stainless steel. A vintage-style menu board hangs behind the counter, flanked by a mounted pair of vintage hi-fi speakers. “We were very disciplined with this one thing,” owner Kenny Beers told Daily Coffee News of the design. “We already had a great space, but our Pinterest pinboard was loaded.”
In an 800-square-foot adjoining space, Beers roasts coffee for the cafe and for wholesale clients on a Yoshan roasting machine. “It’s still small, but so much better than my garage,” Beers said. At the bar, drinks are prepared on a cream-white 2-group Rancilio Classe 5 espresso machine, with an Ethiopian Guji coffee often serving as the espresso base. Some beverages include house-made syrups and additions such as dragon fruit cold foam.
The menu centers on lightly roasted single-origin coffees, including experimental post-harvest processing. Manual pourovers highlight co-fermented offerings alongside washed-process coffees sourced through importers including Unblended, Cafe Imports and Cofinet, plus direct relationships with producers. “I’m always chasing down the next producer,” Beers said. Food is limited to pastries and light bites from outside vendors. “We use vendors who can deliver to us frequently, as we don’t make food ourselves,” Beers said. “We want it to be good, and we want to focus on the coffee instead.”
A Milestone for a Five-Year Pop-Up Veteran
The opening represents a step many small roasting businesses do not reach: the transition from rotating markets, pop-ups and borrowed retail space to a fixed storefront with dedicated production capacity. For Sun Bear, the move consolidates retail, wholesale roasting and brand identity under one roof, which can stabilize revenue and raise the roaster’s visibility in St. Petersburg’s growing specialty coffee scene.
The closure of the Sans Market coffee bar at the end of May shows the tradeoffs involved — Beers redirected limited resources toward the standalone location rather than operating both. The on-site roaster also gives wholesale clients a local supply point, and the cafe’s design-driven identity reflects how independent coffee businesses increasingly use physical spaces to communicate brand personality as much as to sell drinks.
From Cambodia to Coffee Roasting
Beers’ path to coffee roasting began abroad, according to Daily Coffee News. Before founding the business, he was teaching music in Cambodia, where a renewed interest in late-1960s and early-1970s music and pop culture shaped the aesthetic that now defines Sun Bear’s branding. He occasionally performed at a cafe run by Kakada Nub, a roaster and barista who has ranked prominently in Cambodian national barista competitions.
As the two became friends, Nub taught Beers the basics of roasting before the COVID-19 pandemic forced Beers to return to the United States. He formally established Sun Bear in 2021 and later opened a small coffee bar inside St. Petersburg’s Sans Market, which closed at the end of May 2026 to free up focus for the new cafe. The grand opening on July 26 featured performances by several bands — a nod to Beers’ background as a musician.
“We were very disciplined with this one thing. We already had a great space, but our Pinterest pinboard was loaded.”
— Kenny Beers, owner of Sun Bear Coffee
What the Report Leaves Open
Several details about the business are not addressed in the source report. The cafe’s hours, staffing levels and wholesale client list have not been disclosed, and no sales or financial figures were provided. The pace and timeline of the planned expansion of roasting “to an even broader reach across the U.S.” is not specified, and it is unclear whether Sun Bear will add food preparation in-house or expand production beyond the current Yoshan machine. Performance of the cafe since the July opening has been characterized only by Beers’ own description of the grand opening as a success, which is an owner’s claim rather than an independent assessment.
Subscriptions and Wider Distribution Ahead
According to Beers, Sun Bear has added subscription services through Crema.co and Bottomless and aims to expand its roasting reach more broadly across the United States. The company will also continue serving the St. Petersburg cafe’s day-to-day retail operation while supplying existing wholesale clients from the adjoining roasting space. No dates or specific expansion targets have been announced, making subscription growth and wholesale distribution the metrics to watch in coming months.
Key Questions
Where is Sun Bear Coffee’s new standalone cafe located?
The cafe is at 1942 1st Ave S, St. Petersburg, Florida. It opened in late July 2026, with a grand opening event held on July 26.
What kind of coffee does Sun Bear serve?
The menu focuses on lightly roasted single-origin coffees, including experimental post-harvest processed lots. Espresso drinks are built on a 2-group Rancilio Classe 5 machine, often using an Ethiopian Guji coffee, and manual pourovers feature co-fermented and washed-process coffees.
Does Sun Bear roast its own coffee at the cafe?
Yes. Beers roasts coffee for the cafe and wholesale clients on a Yoshan machine in an 800-square-foot space adjoining the cafe.
What happened to Sun Bear’s bar inside Sans Market?
Sun Bear closed its coffee bar inside St. Petersburg’s Sans Market at the end of May 2026 to concentrate on opening and operating the new standalone cafe.
Does the cafe serve food?
The cafe offers pastries and light bites from outside vendors rather than making food in-house. According to Beers, the business prioritizes frequent vendor delivery and keeps the focus on coffee.
Source: rss
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