Kensington’s Càphê Roasters is expanding to a former roller rink across the street from its café
The lauded Vietnamese restaurant and café has big expansion plans in the pipeline, which were received well by neighborhood groups.
Càphê Roasters is planning a major expansion into a former roller rink at 3419-23 Kensington Ave., across the street from its original café.
The lauded Kensington-based Vietnamese coffee shop and delicatessen, which also roasts its own coffee, is currently open from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. The new location would host a brewery with expanded dining options and later hours, as well as a takeout window.
While maintaining its focus on Vietnamese cuisine, the expanded café will also invite immigrant chefs from different Southeast Asian backgrounds to experiment.
“We have a limited number of items on our [current café‘s] menu, but in this new place we’ll be able to be more creative and have more flexibility to incorporate all these different flavors,” said Raymond John, one of the co-founders of Càphê. “It will still be grounded in what makes this place special, and then we’re going to add a little bit more.”
John declined to comment further on his plans for the brewery, saying only that more information would be available later in the year.
The new location would also host a larger coffee roastery, as Càphê has outgrown its current 200-square-foot operation. John’s business partner and co-founder, Thu Pham, began roasting beans for Vietnamese coffee even before the café opened in 2021.
“Our current space is a little small, so we’re limited by the amount of space that we have available to roast coffee and to sell it to our different wholesale partners across the country,” John said. “The new building will afford us more space to expand.”
Càphê is partnering with Shift Capital on the expansion plans. The Kensington-based developer owns the building at 3400 J St. that hosts the original café and purchased 3423 Kensington Ave. in 2017.
The 10,000-square-foot building sits alongside SEPTA’s Market-Frankford Line and historically hosted a movie theater but is well-loved locally for its more recent use as a roller rink and banquet hall.
John, Pham, and their team presented the expansion proposal to the Harrowgate Civic Association last week in advance of a Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing.
City records show permits for a “sit-down restaurant” and artisan industrial space were issued on Jan. 21, but the project needs zoning relief for an array of issues. Those include the takeout window but also the creation of a brewery, which requires light industrial zoning beyond the current commercial designation.
After the Càphê team’s presentation, the Harrowgate Civic Association voted unanimously to support the effort.
“I’ve been doing zoning and land use for over a decade, and I’ve never had an RCO meeting that ended in applause,” said Rachael Pritzker, Càphê’s zoning lawyer. “It was an ode to Raymond and his team and how they’ve taken it upon themselves to be part of the community in Kensington.”
Further government action will be required beyond the zoning board hearing, scheduled for July. Sidewalk seating, planters, and wider ramps to allow kegs to be rolled in and out of the building will require approval from City Council.
Shift Capital expects to begin construction in June or July. The process will probably take a year.
Since opening its restaurant and coffee shop in 2021, Càphê Roasters has received national accolades including being a semifinalist in the 2025 James Beard awards and recognition from the New York Times as one of the 25 best restaurants in Philadelphia this year.
Part of Càphê’s business model is that a percent of the profits are donated to 12 Plus, an educational-equity nonprofit that John founded and leads, which helps students pursue college and career opportunities after high school. Càphê hires students who participate in 12 Plus, as well as Kensington residents and other graduates of the Philadelphia School District.
“Usually breweries are synonymous with gentrification and pushback,” said Brian Murray, CEO of Shift Capital, of Càphê’s success at the neighborhood zoning meeting. “But they were so well received because of how they have built relationships with everyone who was in that room, either on the nonprofit side or the coffee shop side.”