SF's Office of Workforce and Economic Development is sending $3 million to 39 small businesses across the city — four of them on Larkin and O'Farrell in the Tenderloin, arriving as noodle soups, thrift retail, a burger bar, and a mocktail-and-açaí café.

On 721 Larkin St., where a fast-casual noodle spot is fitting out its kitchen, and two blocks south at 448 Larkin, where a breakfast-burrito-and-mocktail bar is still in the prototyping phase, the city's grant checks have already landed.

Four Tenderloin businesses are among 39 across San Francisco receiving over $3 million from the city's Office of Workforce and Economic Development to open new storefronts — announced June 26 as part of a program targeting previously vacant commercial spaces. The Tenderloin's cut includes a noodle restaurant, a thrift shop, a burger bar, and what may be the neighborhood's closest approximation of a sober nightlife option.

The largest local recipient is Reggie and Maude's, a bar and burger venture from the owners of Outta Sight Pizza, taking over the former Pomeroy Bar & Grill space with $100,000 in city funds for site improvements, permits, inventory, and equipment. The partners held a preview burger social on June 29 at a Hayes Valley wine bar before their Tenderloin doors open.

Inmy Chi — who runs The Pots Hot Pot and Kogi Gogi in the Sunset and is a partner at Sai's, the Vietnamese restaurant on Columbus Avenue — is bringing Tender Noodle to 721 Larkin St. Manager Kevin Huang told Mission Local the menu will be deliberately spare: four soups, starting around $6.99 for a base, with proteins and toppings to add from there. "A really simple, simple menu," Huang said. He hopes to open by July. As for what style of soup, given that Chi runs Korean, Chinese, and Vietnamese spots, Huang offered only "Asian fusion" — and a chuckle.

At 683 O'Farrell St., Amran Alsiday is opening Tender Hearts Thrift in the former Lisa for Hair space with a $50,000 city grant. Mission Local found limited details about the operation, but thrift retail is thin in the Tenderloin; the address makes the case for itself.

At 448 Larkin St. — the former Naan N Curry — Ecuadorian designer Francisco Bastidas is opening Ruru Kitchen, a concept he describes as part coffeeshop, part "healthy bar." The plan is morning coffees, afternoon mocktails under $10, and nighttime nibbles still being worked out. Bastidas received $75,000 and says he may open by August. He told Mission Local that the dearth of nighttime social options without alcohol felt "frustrating" — so the mocktail pitch isn't just a menu decision; it's the reason for being.

The neighborhood they're each walking into filed 49 eviction notices in the last 90 days and generated 765 311 service requests in the last week, according to city data — not a verdict, but a measure of how much is still unsettled on these blocks.

Both Larkin storefronts are still coming-soon as of this week. Walk past and you'll see the bones of it: taped windows, empty prep counters, the gap where a menu board will go.