---
title: Chris Marshall is building a sober bar franchise | Trends by The Hustle
description: His sober bar pop-up tour has caught national attention as more people are jumping on the healthy bandwagon and ditching traditional alcohol.
image: https://www.nlopchantamang.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/lrg-IMG_3987_20190802182830-3.jpg
---

![](https://www.nlopchantamang.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/lrg-IMG_3987_20190802182830-3.jpg)

**On a stretch** of Austin’s eastside that features a popcorn cafe, vintage store, vegetarian soul food restaurant, and the city’s oldest black-owned barbecue joint, Chris Marshall has a drink waiting for me at his bar. And by drink, I mean not quite a drink. It’s a Rosemary and Ginger Mule. There’s no alcohol. There’s never alcohol in here.  

Marshall owns Sans Bar, an Austin-based alcohol-free bar, and has also hosted pop-ups in places like Los Angeles, Portland, and Kansas City. He’s a recovering alcoholic and a former counselor. Every Friday before he opens the bar, Marshall says, he thinks about former friends and patients who relapsed and didn’t make it.   

**But he’s also focused on business.** Sober bars, although they’ve been [gaining attention in New York](https://www.eater.com/drinks/2019/1/24/18194447/non-alcohol-bars-spirits-free-drinks), have typically not worked in America, and Marshall wants to change that. His goal is to have a Sans Bar in every city and Sans Bar brand drinks in stores, to be the Starbucks for the sober-curious era. 

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