Hello Kitty Café Opens in CA

New pop-up coffee shop will feature items from the traveling Hello Kitty food truck.

Sanrio has opened a Hello Kitty Pop-Up Café at the Irvine Spectrum Center in Irvine, Calif., and hinted at plans for a permanent location in an as yet unnamed Southern California hotspot.

The new pop-up cafe is designed within a metal shipping container and will open to the public in late November and offer themed goodies and treats through 2016.

The pop-up will serve up selections of the menu items from the Hello Kitty Cafe Truck, which has been making stops around the western United States since its debut at Hello Kitty Con in October 2014. Among these will be mini cakes, macaroons, doughnuts and bow-shaped water bottles, as well as new sweets starring My Melody, Keroppi, Little Twin Stars, Chococat and other Sanrio characters.

“Since its debut last year, the Hello Kitty Cafe Truck has delighted fans in every city it has visited,” says Jill Koch, senior vice president, brand management and marketing, Sanrio. “The Hello Kitty Cafe Pop-Up is an evolution of our cafe experience, offering fan favorite menu items as well as a new selection of treats and exclusive merchandise in a modern, open concept space.”

The Hello Kitty Cafe Pop-Up will also offer daily tea service as well as artisanal sodas and specialty coffee drinks and Hello Kitty and her friends will welcome customers into the coffee shop space with character graphics adorning the exterior and interior panels.

Sanrio also says it will expand its food service venture in the U.S. late next year, with the opening of a permanent Hello Kitty Cafe somewhere in Southern California.