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Bye bye bikini barista bar; hello family-friendly drive-thru.
Controversial Pink Pantherz Espresso, known for its scantily clad baristas and erotically named beverages, quietly closed its Redwood City outpost after six years. As of Nov. 5, it’s been replaced with longtime Half Moon Bay favorite ALpresso Coffee, known for its unique lattes and frappes, energy drink infusions and breakfast items like bagels and pastries.
“Every single person that asked if this business will be Pink Pantherz or a similar concept, when I said, ‘No,’ they were so happy, because they said, ‘This is not us. This concept, this business, should not be in Redwood City, and we’re so happy that someone finally came and changed the business,’” said Atef Algharaybia, owner of ALpresso Coffee.
This is ALpresso Coffee’s second outpost, with its original drive-thru a Half Moon Bay mainstay since 2006. It was known as Aj’s Coffee until a rebranding last year. In a stark contrast to the former tenant, ALpresso Coffee is a family-friendly joint, even featuring a kids’ menu with 12-ounce coffee-free beverages. Food options include bagels, muffins, scones, croissants, cookies, donuts and pastries like cinnamon rolls and twists, bear claws and Danishes, sourced from City Baking Co., a Northern California wholesale bakery that also supplies pastries to businesses like Peet’s Coffee.
The drink menu, developed by Belmont-resident Algharaybia himself, offers a wide selection of hot, iced and blended drinks. Find hot and iced versions of coffee drinks like white raspberry mocha (Algharaybia’s favorite) and Mexican mocha (made with cocoa powder, cayenne pepper and cinnamon), frappes in flavors like Andes chocolate mint and Oreo, smoothies in varieties like strawberry and mango, and over 25 flavors of Red Bull infusions and Italian sodas. All coffee drinks are made with a medium-roast Italian blend.
“I love coffee. I love drinking coffee. I love the smell of coffee,” Algharaybia said. “Before I had this business, when I used to go to any coffee shops, I used to just enjoy the smell … just really makes me happy … I even have coffee beans in a little cup inside my car to make it smell like a coffee shop.”
Algharaybia immigrated from Palestine in 2006 with the goal of opening his own business. He frequently ate at Mediterranean restaurant Waterfront Pizza in Foster City, taking a job there to learn about business operations in America. There, he met a customer who was looking to sell his drive-thru coffee shop in Half Moon Bay, and Algharaybia decided to take over. Algharaybia and his business partner eventually opened additional locations of Aj’s Coffee in Hayward and Dublin before splitting the business last year – Algharaybia took the original Half Moon Bay location, renaming it ALpresso Coffee but keeping the recipes the same, and his former business partner took the other two locations.
For the last two decades, Algharaybia didn’t have much interest in expanding his drive-thru business, instead focusing on raising his four kids. In fact, he would pass the Redwood City drive-thru that would later become ALpresso every Saturday while taking his kids to swimming class in Menlo Park. But now that his children have grown up, he and his wife had time on their hands to grow ALpresso, he said.
The opportunity to expand to Redwood City came about after having difficulties changing ALpresso’s Yelp page from Aj’s Coffee. While clicking around on Yelp, Algharaybia’s wife saw a review for Pink Pantherz Espresso saying the owner was looking to sell.
“I read all the comments, and I had researched online,” Algharaybia said. “We saw a lot of police reports about the place and issue with the barista. And we hear that all the community were protesting against this business, and it was just bad.”
Pink Pantherz garnered significant Redwood City community pushback even before it opened in 2018. Nearly 1,500 signatures demanded Pink Pantherz be banned from Redwood City, which resulted in owner Jose Carmona requiring his employees wear “booty shorts that cover the buttocks and bikini tops that shield against the underside view of breasts,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Pink Pantherz Redwood City isn’t the only Peninsula location to close – the former location in Campbell no longer exists either. Pink Pantherz still operates in Modesto, Fresno and Fremont.
Algharaybia said the landlord would not renew the lease for Pink Pantherz if it continued to be a bikini barista drive-thru. After securing the lease, Algharaybia took one month for renovations, adding a brand new fridge, ice maker, cash register, water system, sink, counter, lights and paint. Currently open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Algharaybia plans to expand the hours to 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. beginning in May.
“My goal is to have ALpresso Coffee on every corner,” Algharaybia said. “I want (the community) to know that we are a family business. We’re there to make them the best coffee, to serve them fast, on time … We are welcoming everyone.”
ALpresso Coffee, 2797 El Camino Real, Redwood City, Instagram: @alpresso.coffee. Open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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