Long-time SF coffee shop owners weigh in on ‘selling out’

Andrew Barnett, a self-described “coffee freak” and the founder of Linea, which runs its roastery in Potrero Hill, believes both customers and employees care about a company’s impact on the planet these days. 

If someone’s buying a cup of specialty coffee—versus swinging by Starbucks—they want to feel good about who they’re supporting. “It’s important that our coffee is really great, but also that we have purpose,” he said. “If you don’t have a real mission, you’re a dead-end street.” 

Grand’s Silmi also believes that workers and customers care about being grounded in values and community: “It’s very intimate, the relationship that cafes build with their customer base and their community,” he said. You can’t scale that authenticity, he added: “It’s called, ‘selling out.’ And the question, at the end of the day, is who’s willing to sell out and for how much?”

What’s next in SF coffee 

Although local cafe owners shared similar reasons for embracing slower growth and avoiding outside funding, they all insisted that they don’t begrudge anyone who takes the opposite tack. Frankly, San Francisco is a damn hard place to run a coffee company. 

Costs for rent and adequate wages—as well as inflation’s effect on everything from milk to cups—have continued to balloon.

“It’s just such an expensive place to have a small business,” Rinaldi said. “It’s an expensive place to live.” Juggling costs and profitability while trying to avoid selling “outrageously priced” drinks is a constant struggle, she said.