If you haven’t heard of Mochinut yet, you certainly will soon. The American-Japanese fusion dessert shop is pursuing an aggressive expansion plan that will bring their specialty snacks home to San Francisco.
Begun only a few years ago in Southern California, Mochinut has caught on like a spark to tinder. Already boasting 32 locations in the US alone, Mochinut has plans to expand to 90 locations over the next year. While most of their locations are in Southern California, Mochinut is climbing its way north with its latest launch, planning on opening their first San Francisco location at 2126 Irving Street in the Outer Sunset district.
Mochi Donuts have been steadily increasing in popularity over the past couple of years. Also known as Pon De Ring, mochi donuts are a crisp-yet-chewy dessert made from rice flour. Completely gluten free, mochi donuts have become an incredibly popular alternative dessert that is easier on the stomach yet just as sweet as a traditional donut.
Mochi Donut aficionados traditionally source the dessert back to 2016 in Hawaii, when Liliha Bakery began serving a poi-mochi donut after being inspired from a trip to Japan. In only a few short years, the poi-mochi evolved into the mochinut we know now and the rest is history.
The new San Francisco Mochinut will be replacing Micado Restaurant, which has since closed. No word has been given as to when Mochinut plans to launch its Irving Street location, but it still has yet to appear on the “Coming Soon” section of their website. In addition to Irving Street, it appears that there also plans in place to open a Mochinut in Sacremento, Elk Grove, and Pleasanton. Future locations are slated to open up in Thailand and South Korea as well, indicating that there are no plans to slow down any time soon.
