Local coffee chain expands to new neighborhoods, towns

Waterbean Coffee is expanding to 20 locations, including a prime spot in NoDa.

Why it matters: Waterbean Coffee was once one of the rare places to find specialty coffee in the region. Today the brand is growing faster than ever despite the spike in competition.

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Driving the news: Waterbean's 16th location opened in Denver, N.C., last weekend, just weeks after its Morganton location opened.

• Next up will be Gastonia and a third spot in Hickory.
• NoDa and Davidson stores are in the works.

Zoom in: The NoDa shop will be 1,500 square feet in a stand-alone building at NoDa Wandry, a new apartment development that's a repurposed historic mill .

• It will be similar to other Waterbean locations, except this one will feature a rooftop overlooking East 36th Street.
• Construction will begin after permits are approved. Waterbean owner Tony Vo expects the NoDa location to open within three to four months.

The future Waterbean in NoDa is footsteps away from the 36th Street light rail stop. Photo: Alexandria Sands/Axios

The big picture: The coffee business is dealing with the same challenges as other food and drink establishments, from rising rents to staffing shortages and supply chain hurdles, Vo says.

• Still, local coffee chains like Waterbean, Summit and Night Swim continue to take off.
• Although it appears remote workers are filling coffee shops nowadays, Vo says business is better now that employees are back in the office. Customers stop in on their commute rather than brewing at home.

Flashback: Vo, a part-time patent examiner, opened the first Waterbean Coffee in Cornelius in 2013. He never expected the growth that would transpire over the next decade.

• "I thought it was a one-and-done location. And then once I opened it, I just fell in love with it," Vo says.
• He opened the second location just a few months later in Huntersville.
• His payroll has grown from about four team members to 150 people. He'll soon have 200 employees.

What's next: Vo wants to expand throughout North Carolina.

• Gastonia's Waterbean, likely opening early next year, will be a 4,000-square-foot flagship store and the 19th location.
• "It's going to be the best coffee shop in probably the state of North Carolina," Vo says. "Some of the stuff that I'm going to put in there, people are not gonna see before, and I'm gonna make it really, really pretty."
• The third Hickory location will be inside Hickory Food Hall, a project by Vo's family. The town's first food hall will span 23,000 square feet.

What to try: One of Waterbean's signature drinks, the Paradise Iced Latte ($5.60), comes topped with a purple cold foam made with ube — a yam native to Southeast Asia. Vo says he likes to reflect his Vietnamese heritage in his recipes.

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