Restaurateurs Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson, the team behind L.A. healthy fast-food chain Locol, are planning to scale up their premium affordable coffee brand, Yes Plz, with coffee windows and standalone shops.

Locol opened last year in Watts, and Choi and Patterson have partnered with coffee entrepreneur Tony Konecny with the goal of serving coffee rivaling that of Intelligentsia Coffee and Stumptown Coffee Roasters for only $1, or $1.50 with cream and sugar.

Konecny, who founded L.A.’s Tonx coffee, eventually acquired by Bluebottle Coffee, declined to comment on the rollout. His deal with Locol to bring coffee to its shops was announced in January of last year.

The coffee is offered at Locol locations in a Locol cup, but it is now to be spun off as a separate brand called Yes Plz.

Konecny told The New York Times the team plans to set up coffee windows and standalone shops while still supplying Locol’s three locations in Los Angeles and Oakland. They are still exploring potential locations for the new outposts.

Yes Plz will offer a 12-ounce bag of its signature mix for $8 to $9, according to the Times report.

Yes Plz will keep costs down by doing a volume business in a single coffee blend, offering just four options, and turning old hot coffee into cold coffee drinks, which would cut waste, Konecny told food blog Eater. The coffee is brewed by Locol kitchen staff.

Choi is the mastermind behind Korean taco truck Kogi BBQ. Patterson cemented his restaurateur reputation with Michelin-starred restaurant Coi in San Francisco.

– Helen Zhao