California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control records show Cartel Coffee Lab, Inc. has applied for an on-sale beer and wine license under the business name Cartel Coffee at 190 N. Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas. The address is currently home to Moto Deli, the popular neighborhood sandwich shop that has operated from the property for years. The ABC application, filed through the agency's San Marcos office, was placed into pending status on September 11. Records also show Cartel has been issued a four-month temporary permit effective September 14, and that the license is being transferred from Moto Deli's existing license.
The Encinitas opening would mark a significant expansion for Cartel, a specialty coffee company founded by husband-and-wife team Jason and Amy Silberschlag in Tempe, Arizona, in 2008. What began as a small roastery and café has developed into a regional coffee company with locations throughout Arizona and an expanding presence in California.
Cartel's own current location directory lists more than a dozen cafés, with the overwhelming majority in Arizona. Its California presence presently includes locations in Palm Springs and Los Angeles, meaning Encinitas appears poised to become the company's first location in San Diego County.
The move comes as Cartel has begun accelerating its expansion outside its home state. Earlier this year, the company announced plans for additional cafés and said it was preparing to introduce more substantial food programs across its locations, including breakfast sandwiches in the morning and grilled sandwiches for lunch.
Cartel's push deeper into Southern California is relatively new. The company opened a Los Angeles café on West Third Street this year, outfitting the shop with a La Marzocco espresso machine, Mazzer grinders, house-made cold brew and a NuMilk system used to produce alternative milks in-house. The Los Angeles location also partnered with local businesses for its breakfast and lunch offerings.
Coffee remains the centerpiece of the operation. Cartel sources and roasts its own coffees and has built its identity around transparency in sourcing, specialty-grade beans and a philosophy that treats its cafés as community gathering places rather than simply places to grab a drink.
Its coffee program ranges from espresso and brewed coffee to rotating single-origin selections and cold brew. The company also makes oat and cashew milk in-house using NuMilk rather than relying entirely on commercially packaged alternative milks.
Cartel has recently been experimenting with collaboration as well. In August, the company partnered with Albuquerque's Little Bear Coffee on its "Blends with Friends" initiative, combining washed Peruvian and natural Colombian coffees into a collaborative roast with notes described as red apple, lime and baking spices.
The Encinitas ABC filing introduces another interesting wrinkle. Cartel's existing FAQ states that its cafés do not currently serve alcoholic beverages, while the Encinitas application is specifically for a Type 41 On-Sale Beer and Wine Eating Place license. That suggests the North County location could differ from Cartel's existing café model, although the company has not yet publicly announced what beer, wine or food program is planned for Encinitas.
The company's expansion strategy has increasingly incorporated food. Cartel says its existing cafés offer house-made refrigerated items and sweet and savory pastries, with some locations partnering with local businesses for tacos and burritos, while its previously announced growth plans call for an elevated food program centered around breakfast and grilled sandwiches.
That makes its choice of location particularly intriguing, as Cartel is replacing a business known much more for sandwiches and beer than coffee. Moto Deli's menu includes creations such as a chopped turkey pesto, mortadella, spicy Italian, banh mi, Cubano, chopped cheese and Turketta, along with salads, sides and breakfast sandwiches. The restaurant's existing beer-and-wine license appears to be the one being transferred to Cartel, providing particularly strong evidence that the coffee company intends to assume the Moto Deli premises rather than merely opening somewhere within the same property.
Moto Deli's current website and online ordering system remain active as of publication, and the restaurant continues to advertise daily operations at the Encinitas address. No closing date has been publicly announced, so it remains unclear exactly when the transition from Moto Deli to Cartel will take place. We reached out to Moto Deli and Cartel Coffee for more details and will update this article if we receive any response.
For Cartel, Encinitas also represents a logical market for the company's broader California ambitions. In discussing its expansion earlier this year, the company specifically pointed to Southern California's established coffee culture as an opportunity while emphasizing that it does not intend to become a conventional mass-market chain.
Cartel has also taken the unusual step of inviting its customers to become investors in the company through a Regulation Crowdfunding campaign. The business has characterized that approach as a way to remain community-supported as it expands, while its securities offering materials caution that such investments are speculative and carry a risk of total loss.
The Encinitas opening will put Cartel into an increasingly competitive North County specialty coffee scene, but it will also give the company something its existing California cafés apparently do not have: an on-site beer and wine program, assuming its pending ABC license receives final approval.
An opening date for Cartel Coffee at 190 N. Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas has not yet been announced. For more information, visit cartelroasting.co.
Originally published on September 14, 2026.
