A popular New York coffee and matcha hotspot is brewing up excitement with a summer debut in Philadelphia.
Blank Street, co-founded by Vinay Menda and Issam Freiha, is set to open a new location on the University of Pennsylvania campus at 3603 Walnut St., the company announced.
“We’re excited to be getting closer than ever to the UPenn community,” Menda said in a statement.
Launched in 2020 from a 5×10 coffee cart in the Wythe Diner garden in Brooklyn, the brand has quickly grown to over 90 locations.
More than 40 are in the U.S., including New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., with international outposts in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The upcoming Philadelphia location adds to its expanding global footprint.
At 3,500 square feet, the new location will be one of Blank Street’s largest cafes. Menda said the space offers a chance to “invest deeply in design and deliver an elevated, hospitality-focused experience to the neighborhood.”
The University of Pennsylvania’s director of real estate shared in the excitement over the brand’s arrival.
“We’re thrilled to have Blank Street join the SHOP PENN retail district, creating a destination for students, faculty, staff, and our surrounding neighbors. Their dedication to high-quality coffee fit seamlessly with our vision of offering goods and spaces that inspire, energize, and bring people together across the retail district,” Ed Datz said in a statement.
Blank Street serves classic coffee, espresso and matcha, along with signature drinks such as the “Daydream” latte with vanilla bean, honey and cinnamon; a strawberry shortcake matcha with strawberries, fresh jam and a madeleine; and a blueberry matcha with blueberries, vanilla and ube.
Visit the Blank Street website and follow along on Instagram and Facebook for the official grand opening. Stay tuned!
