Ciao, Sandton — Inside the Fabiani Café Pop-Up Where Every Cup Counts

There is something pleasingly disorienting about walking through Sandton City on a Tuesday evening and catching the scent of freshly pulled espresso drifting from a fashion brand's pop-up. Not a coffee shop pretending to sell clothes. Not a restaurant bolted onto a boutique. A full café — designed, staffed and operated by one of South Africa's oldest menswear houses — where every single rand goes to charity.

That's the Fabiani Café, and it's open at Sandton City from 30 June to 13 July 2026.

We went down to see what's in the cup.

A Fashion House That's Always Loved Coffee

Fabiani isn't new to this. Founded in 1978 by Jeffrey Fabian, the brand built its reputation on what retail analysts now call "experiential retail" — but what Fabiani simply called being a good host. Back in the '80s and '90s, walking into a Fabiani store meant Italian espresso in your hand, prosecco on the counter, a snooker table in the corner and George Benson on the speakers.

The café pop-up is a full-circle moment. Strip away four decades of TFG acquisitions, franchise debates and fashion cycles, and you're left with the original idea: bring people together over good coffee and well-made clothes.

And yes — when we arrived, a green turntable was spinning George Benson's Breezin'. Some things never change.

---

The Setup: Green, Brown and Beautiful

The pop-up occupies a generous space inside the mall — think curved seating in white pinstripe fabric, cane-back chairs, round walnut tables, and a central bar clad in deep green timber. Behind the counter sits a Wega espresso machine flanked by stacks of dark green branded cups. To one side: a foosball table stamped with the Fabiani crest. To the other: a clothing rail stocked with the brown workwear jackets the barista crew are wearing.

It doesn't feel like a pop-up. It feels like someone built a proper café, handed the keys to people who care, and said: go.

---

The Coffee: Cedar's Fabiani Signature Blend

The coffee programme is run by Cedar Coffee Roasters, the Cape Town-based specialty roaster founded by Leigh Wentzel and Winston Thomas in Woodstock. Cedar created an exclusive Fabiani Signature Blend specifically for this collaboration — and the tasting notes are printed right on the box:

• Blend components: Brazil Monte Alto / Guatemala Huehuetenango
• Taste profile: Malt chocolate & toasted nuts

It's a medium roast that leans into sweetness — the malt chocolate comes through clearly in a flat white, and there's a pleasant nuttiness on the finish that makes it sessionable without being boring. If you're used to lighter, fruit-forward single origins, this is a different lane — it's comfort coffee done well.

Cedar also partnered on the V&A Waterfront edition of the Fabiani Café last July (2025), so the relationship between roaster and brand has had time to develop.

---

The Baristas: SOZO Foundation Graduates

Here's where the story gets properly interesting.

The baristas behind the counter aren't hired staff. They're graduates of the SOZO Foundation's Barista Skills School in Vrygrond, Cape Town — a programme that trains unemployed young South Africans in espresso preparation, latte art, customer service, CV writing and job readiness.

The Fabiani Café gives these graduates something a classroom can't: real-world, high-pressure, paying-customer experience in a professional setting. For many, this is their first time working a commercial espresso machine in front of a queue.

The team we met were warm, enthusiastic and making very decent coffee. They wore matching brown workwear jackets with contrast stitching and the "Fabiani Café — Since 1978" logo embroidered on the chest — an outfit that looked good enough to buy (and you can, from the rail).

---

The Food: Broodkop & Daily Indulgence

The café isn't just about coffee. Two food collaborators were brought in for the Sandton edition:

• Chef Corvin Pietersen of Broodkop — the acclaimed Joburg baker and author of Ons Daaglikse Brood — is supplying handcrafted panzerotti: bold, flavour-packed pockets of dough that lean Italian in spirit and South African in execution.
• Sofia El Baz of Daily Indulgence — a self-taught baker with Moroccan-French heritage — contributes artisanal pastries that pair beautifully with Cedar's blend.

The Fabiani Times — a charming newspaper-format menu printed for the pop-up — describes the food concept as "the simple pleasures of game-day comfort food elevated, the Fabiani way."

---

100% to Charity — Zero Cents Kept

Let's talk about the number that matters.

Every single rand generated by the Fabiani Café — from coffee sales, merchandise, tote bags, everything — goes directly to two charity partners:

1. SOZO Foundation — providing barista training, life skills mentoring and employment pathways for young South Africans in Vrygrond.
2. FoodForward SA — South Africa's largest food redistribution organisation, fighting food insecurity by redirecting quality surplus food to communities in need.

When we asked one of the team about the split, the answer was unambiguous: "We're taking zero cents."

That's not a rounding-down-for-marketing exercise. The entire initiative is structured as a Corporate Social Investment (CSI) project by TFG, with Fabiani as the vehicle. The café exists to create impact, not margin.

---

Not Fabiani's First Rodeo

The Sandton pop-up is part of a growing series. In July 2025, the first Fabiani Café appeared at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town — a weekend activation outside the NSRI building, also in partnership with Cedar Coffee and FoodForward SA. That edition featured Italian deli-style sandwiches by Chef Trey.

The move from Cape Town to Joburg — and from a two-day weekend to a two-week residency — suggests the concept is scaling. And when we asked about the future, the team hinted that making the pop-up permanent is "in negotiations."

If it does become a fixture, they were quick to add, the charitable model stays.

---

The Vibes: Jenga, Foosball and Breezin'

A few details that tell you everything about the atmosphere:

• A stack of green Fabiani-branded Jenga blocks sits on every table
• The foosball table carries a "19 · 78" badge — the founding year
• The record player was spinning George Benson when we walked in
• The tote bags (R300) are a deep olive with neon-yellow Fabiani branding
• Even the still water cans are Fabiani-branded

It's a space designed around conversation, not consumption. You linger. You play. You talk to the baristas. And somewhere in the middle of all that, you realise you've just funded a young person's barista training — and helped put food on someone else's table.

---

The Details

• What: Fabiani Café Pop-Up
• Where: Sandton City, Johannesburg
• When: 30 June – 13 July 2026
• Coffee: Cedar Coffee Roasters — Fabiani Signature Blend
• Charity partners: SOZO Foundation & FoodForward SA
• Food: Chef Corvin Pietersen (Broodkop) & Sofia El Baz (Daily Indulgence)

---

Visited 8 July 2026 at Sandton City. Words by Brett Burness for Coffee Journal. All photos by the author.

---

Read more from Coffee Journal: Explore our Johannesburg Coffee Roasters Guide for the full breakdown of where to buy beans in the city, or browse the SA Roasters Directory to discover specialty roasters across the country.