The SF bean-to-bar company converts an SF New Deal pop-up at 167 Powell St. into a permanent express café — the first Vacant to Vibrant participant to commit long-term to the district — as a $40.5 million streetscape overhaul gets its financing locked in.

Todd Masonis walked away from Union Square in 2023. He toured storefronts on Powell Street, looking for a spot to expand Dandelion Chocolate, the Mission-born bean-to-bar company, and left without signing anything. "We didn't see the comeback happening," he told the SF Standard.

Three years later, he's in. Dandelion Chocolate has signed a five-year lease at 167 Powell St., the corner of Powell and O'Farrell — directly in view of the cable car turnaround — converting what began as a pop-up into the company's newest permanent location, per SF Standard reporting. Dandelion Chocolate Inc. has operated under City business registration since 2012 and now carries 167 Powell on its record alongside existing locations at Valencia Street, the Ferry Building, 2115 Fillmore, and 2072 Chestnut.

The deal makes Dandelion the first participant in SF New Deal's Vacant to Vibrant program to commit to Union Square for the long term. The program, launched in 2023 by SF New Deal and the city's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, places small businesses in vacant downtown storefronts with de-risked entry terms: up to six months of paid rent, technical assistance, and grants, according to the Mayor's Office. Dandelion's entry point was exactly that — below-market rent, a short-term lease, no long-term obligation. The pop-up opened in October 2025 and by the company's own account proved itself on weekends and during the holidays.

According to SF New Deal, the program has activated more than 30 storefronts since 2023, with roughly a dozen converting to long-term leases — though at least one of those, The Mellow, has since closed. "The pop-ups can be a way of launching a business in San Francisco that de-risks it for the business owner," Simon Bertrang, the organization's executive director, told the SF Standard.

The 167 Powell space still needs substantial work before it can function as the express café Masonis envisions — hot cocoa, pastries, eventually an espresso machine. Right now it has no sinks, no seating, and no customer bathrooms. Whether renovations can wrap before the holiday rush or wait until January is unresolved. "We'd rather wait to get it right," Masonis said.

The lease lands as the Powell Street corridor secures the most significant public investment in years. Mayor Daniel Lurie signed legislation Wednesday accepting $14.5 million in private funding from the San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation for the long-delayed Powell Street Promenade redesign, supplementing $26 million already approved through the 2024 Healthy, Safe and Vibrant San Francisco Bond and transportation funding — a $40.5 million total, as SFist and KTVU reported. The three-block stretch from Market to Geary is slated for wider sidewalks, new landscaping, and an LED installation near the cable car turnaround. Construction is expected this fall; most work is projected to wrap by 2027.

Masonis noted that the Powell Street location draws a different customer than the Marina: mostly tourists and out-of-town visitors between Moscone sessions, rather than neighborhood regulars. "This area is so busy and has so much pent-up demand," he told the SF Standard.

A five-year lease on Powell Street is a real bet on what the corridor delivers once the construction dust settles.