Empty Boston Markets in Fresno get renters: Coffee chain, trendy Asian dumplings
Two years after they closed, both the Boston Market restaurants in Fresno will soon have new businesses opening inside.
One will be a Dutch Bros Coffee with a drive-thru. The other will be a locally owned restaurant selling trendy Chinese soup dumplings that are popular worldwide.
The Dutch Bros will open at the southeast corner of Nees Avenue and First Street — within walking distance of Kastner Intermediate School.
Renovations are well underway on the building. Dutch Bros hopes to be serving its Golden Eagle espresso drinks and others before the end of the year, said Jacob Cantu, marketing and events manager for the franchisee, who owns multiple locations in Fresno.
The location is quite a bit bigger than standard Dutch Bros, even the ones that have indoor sit-down areas, such as the location on West Shaw Avenue.
“It’s going to have a good-size lobby for people to hang out,” Cantu said.
It will also have a conference room for training employees.
Empty restaurants such as this one are easy to rent out, said Michael Kennedy, a commercial real estate broker with Retail California who represented Dutch Bros during lease negotiations. It’s in a high-traffic area, right on a corner, with a younger demographic in the neighborhood, he said.
It also has an existing drive-thru, something that can take a while to get approved when building from the ground up, he said.
“Generally speaking, there’s lots of people out there looking for restaurant space, especially drive-thru space,” Kennedy said.
Jingle Bao
The other Boston Market does not have a drive-thru, but a restaurant has already leased the spot.
Jingle Bao will serve Chinese soup dumplings.
It will have other food as well — possibly the small bites of dim sum — though the menu is still being developed, said Chun Lau, who is the manager opening the restaurant.
The xiao long bao dumplings, which are popular in Shanghai, are made by hand, filled with a solid mixture, usually including pork. When steamed, the insides melt into a soup-like texture that dissolves when in your mouth. (At least one local restaurant, Little Fat Dumpling at Friant Road and Fresno Street, also serves these dumplings.)
Jingle Bao’s dumplings are modeled after those at Din Tai Fung, a worldwide chain of restaurants whose Hong Kong location has received a Michelin star five times. It has 11 locations in California, and many more in Asia.
“We just feel like Fresno doesn’t have enough variety of food,” Lau said. “We feel like Fresno is a big town, and we want to bring more variety of food.”
It will be several months before Jingle Bao opens, he said.
The restaurant is owned by a group of partners, including one of the owners of Bag o’ Crab in northwest Fresno.
This story was originally published August 8, 2025 at 11:47 AM.
