How It Started: Pacific Cocktail Haven

“There were a lot of people who hated us, who thought we’d destroyed their favorite thing in the world,” Kevin Diedrich, operating partner/bartender of Pacific Cocktail Haven, shared in our January/February 2026 issue. When Diedrich and his business partners Andy Chun and Jan Wiginton took over Duggan McDonnell’s San Francisco pisco bar, Cantina, in 2015, they faced a lot of skepticism from dedicated regulars. Fast-forward a decade, and Pacific Cocktail Haven is not only beloved by the locals but the world, having been named Best American Cocktail Bar in the 2020 Spirited Awards and placed No. 88 on the World’s Best Bars list in 2023. PCH and Diedrich have also collected several James Beard nominations, including one for 2026 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.

How did it all start? Diedrich shares the bar’s journey from a pop-up to one of the world’s best bars.

This has been edited for space, clarity, and context.

Kevin Diedrich:

In 2015, my track record of opening places and then closing—really, getting sold by hotel groups—was pretty high, so I was a little beaten up. My wife and I talked, “Should we take this as a sign it’s time to leave San Francisco?” Then Andy and Jan, now my partners, approached me about Cantina, which—along with bars like Rye, Alembic, and Bourbon and Branch—was at the forefront of everything that was happening in San Francisco. So I was curious about what they’re going to do with it. They said, “We’re looking to buy the whole Cantina space, and we’re looking for a bar manager.” But I was, like, “I don’t want to manage anything anymore. I’m ready to own something.” I was tired of doing it for other people, and this was my opportunity to do it for myself and to see if this is something I can do. 

Cantina was such a legacy business—but it was someone else’s business. I didn’t want to do that legacy an injustice by just keeping it and running it as Cantina.

Winning Over the Regulars

There’s a moniker in the industry called “turnkey,” which is a bar you can walk into and start operating. So we called it “Turnkey at Cantina.” We’re trying to hold on to the name for a little bit just to have something familiar for people who are coming in. I asked Duggan if it was okay if we kept two of the most popular Cantina cocktails on the menu—the Laughing Buddha and the Pisco Punch—because we wanted to keep something familiar. 

There was a lot of angst and hate toward us because people thought we’d just closed somebody’s bar and bought this person out. A lot of people yelled at me and called me names. But we needed to meet everyone where they were at. And it was a lot of being understanding and empathetic and trying to get them in the door. We’ve had regulars who have been coming to see us for 10 years because of that.

Uncovering the Past

Because we didn’t have a lot of money, I did a lot of the demo myself. The team would close up, go home, and I would start demoing inside the bar—take the walls down, furniture out. The next day the team would show up around noon and help me clean up. We’d prep and set up the bar, and we’d operate again. It nearly killed me. The bar team that was with me—Francis, Garrett, Jarrett, and Adrian—we were all working together every single day to try and open this bar and change it in way that felt like home for us. 

I only did little bits at a time. I was on the roof looking around, and there was a skylight on the roof, but it didn’t go through to the bar. So we cut out all the drywall that was covering it up, and it brightened up the space. The light made it a little more welcoming because the lounge could fit only 15 to 20 people.

Honoring Heritage

We went through a lot of different names and a lot of logos. But as I was doing research, there was a plaque outside that this building was the first home of Williams Sonoma in San Francisco. I walked down to the Williams Sonoma store, found the manager, and asked, “Do you know anything about this 580 Sutter Street building? I just bought the bar there.” He gave me a book on the history of Williams Sonoma, and it had a really cool picture of the outside facade of 580 with the Williams Sonoma logo on it. 

[Chuck Williams] decided to open Williams Sonoma on that corner because he kept seeing women going in and out of the Women’s Club across the street. He thought, “It would probably make money if I opened a kitchen shop across the street from this.” And the logo of Williams Sonoma was a pineapple, which is the international sign of hospitality.

I always think of respecting our past and respecting a lot of the people that laid the groundwork for us. 

My career has been in hospitality, working for Ritz Carltons and Four Seasons. And I thought we should pay tribute to what this space is by also using the pineapple as our logo. I always think of respecting our past and the people who laid the groundwork for us. 

Left to right: PCH banner at 580 | Photo by Caroline Pardilla; Kevin Diedrich | Photo courtesy of PCH

The First Six Months

From December to June, we ran the bar as a pop-up as we continued to change the cocktails and read the regulars coming in. We’re tucked in Lower Nob Hill, just off Union Square. I wanted to be part of the community. I wanted the bar to be filled with regulars. And when I made some money, I put it right back into the bar. There were only two wells behind that bar, and I squeezed in three. And then we installed glass chillers. More money and we redid the entire bar top. Made a little more money and included a drink rail.

When we first took over the space, in the first three months if we did $2,000, that was a very busy night. I was so scared that everyone was going to leave because everyone was making maybe $40 a night in tips. I told them, “If you guys need to leave financially, I completely understand.” But everyone stuck in there because they believed in what we were trying to build. At the same time, I was doing all the prep in the morning—juicing, making all the syrups, making everything for the menu.

As the business started making money, I was able to hire a prep person. What was really cool about the slow growth was we’d add one person and that person would be with us for three or four months before the next hire. So we were adding one person at a time, which allowed us to grow organically as a bar team.

That Winning Feeling

When we first won Best American Cocktail Bar, it was for 2019, but it was awarded during the pandemic. So they did the awards over Zoom that year. Tales previously told me that the bar had won and that I’d won Best American Bartender. I didn’t tell anybody. The award show itself was live. I got the team together, and they were going through the whole Zoom show. But then Tales texted me, “We had to cut you guys out. We’re really sorry. We ran out of time.” For me, I couldn’t care less about it, but I wanted the team to get the recognition they deserved, and they never got that moment. They never got to go on stage. This is the team that built this bar, and they never got any attention.

We don’t need to have awards on the wall saying what we’ve done, so they sat in a box for a very long time. I didn’t display them until we had our new space. Now they’re up by the bathrooms because I don’t think awards should be behind the bar. It makes it feel like that’s what’s important to us. If I put all our plates and all our awards behind the bar, it invokes this feeling that this is about us, rather than the reverse where we’re here to take care of you.

Kevin and his dog Kona, July 2018. | Photo by Allison Weber

Catastrophe Strikes

The trajectory of the bar from 2018 to 2019 was hitting the World’s 50 Best list in 2020, the extended list. But then the pandemic happened, and then the bar burned.

The old space burned down on February 21, 2021. After the fire, we had to move out. The landlords kept telling us, “We’ll get you up and running in no time.” In the meantime, the building was completely devastated. There was smoke and water damage throughout the building. There was no way we were going to reopen in six months. 

During the pandemic, we had built parklets all the way down to 550 Sutter Street. I started a relationship with the landlords there, and I told them what we were looking for. And they were, like, “You want to look inside?” It has these big, beautiful black gates that open and close. Once you’re inside, it feels like you escaped from Sutter Street. We could get some live plants and outside seating. And we made sure that once people are inside, they’re gonna feel safe and comfortable. 

Finding a New Haven

We reopened in the new space at 550 Sutter in March 2022. Our contractor was amazing—and we had the opportunity to design our space. The new space is absolutely gorgeous. I wanted to lean into the Pacific islands and Asian flavors by going a little brighter. We decided to go with brighter cherry wood and a lot of texture. The technical name for the color of the walls is mango. So it brings a little bit of warmth, a little bit of the tropics. Instead of banquettes facing the bar with all the guests staring at everyone at the bar, we intentionally curved every seat and every little nook. So, when you sit down, you still feel like you’re part of the bar.

Reopening in the new space was almost like a brand-new bar opening. It gave us this new life in terms of people discovering us. We did reopen PCH, but we reopened another bar. There’s the story of PCH that was at 580 Sutter, and then there’s a story of PCH at 550 Sutter.

The new location boasts a courtyard. | Photo by Kevin Diedrich

Celebrating 10 Years

We’ve never celebrated an anniversary. For me, we celebrate by getting to open our doors every day and having a busy, successful business. We’re able to do things for our team and for the business and to do things culturally for the city. So that’s my reward, but we’ll do a giant party. 

For our 10th, I want to invite all the people that did pop-ups with us in the past to come back and do guest shifts. I don’t want any of our old bar staff to guest bartend—I want them to attend and enjoy the moments, enjoy the people, and enjoy that they’re part of something that was able to be open for 10 years. Let’s enjoy as a community, as a culture together.

Left to right: Winter Cup | Photo by John Valls; Tuk Tuk Tea | Photo by Allison WebberLime in Da Coconut | Photo by Allison Webber

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