Pura Vida Miami Wins Approval to Open Harvard Square Cafe

Pura Vida Miami, a fast-growing cafe chain known for health-focused dishes, won approval Thursday to open a location in Harvard Square.

The Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously granted the company a special permit to open an all-day cafe at 95 Mt. Auburn St., a 4,100-square-foot storefront that has sat vacant since 2023.

The restaurant will serve items such as acai bowls, salads, wraps, and juices. Though the cafe will operate in a quick-service format, owners said they hope a large seating area will encourage customers to dine in rather than simply grab food to-go.

Plans for the location include seating for 88 customers — a relatively large amount for a quick-service business in Harvard Square, according to James Rafferty, the attorney representing Pura Vida Miami. Board members praised the proposal during Thursday’s meeting.

“These days, there seems to be some overall thinking that there’s a plethora of banks and cell phone stores and not enough active uses,” Rafferty said. “Pura Vida will certainly change that by introducing a cafe in this location that will be very focused on the walk-in trade that is present between the students, the staff, and visitors to Harvard Square.”

Oscar Amaro, senior construction manager at Pura Vida Miami, said the company hopes the seating capacity will help create more of a dine-in environment.

“We’re hoping to attract as much foot foot traffic as possible, and it’s more oriented to be more of a dine-in experience than orders for grab-and-go and picking up,” Amaro said.

The Harvard Square location comes as Pura Vida Miami expands nationwide following an investment from private equity firm TSG Consumer last November.

Because Cambridge zoning restricts chain businesses from opening by-right in Harvard Square, the company was required to obtain a special permit from the BZA. The rules are intended to preserve the Square’s character and support small businesses.

City zoning also imposes additional requirements on formula businesses — chains with standardized branding and more than 20 locations nationwide — as well as on quick-service restaurants.

With more than 40 locations across the country, Pura Vida Miami underwent both the BZA permitting process and an advisory review by the Harvard Square Advisory Committee.

BZA members said they received the committee’s recommendations just hours before Thursday’s meeting.

While the committee’s suggestions were not included as formal conditions of the permit, Pura Vida Miami’s management said it plans to consider several of them. One recommendation urged the cafe to remain open later than its planned 9 p.m. closing time. Rafferty said extended hours could be considered if demand proves strong.

When reviewing special permits for chain restaurants, the BZA evaluates whether a proposal will “strengthen the retail base” and “preserve the Square’s cultural diversity.”

Those standards have prevented several chains from opening in Harvard Square in recent years. In 2017, the BZA and the Cambridge Historical Commission rejected a proposal from pizza chain &pizza and bakery chain Milk Bar to open a collaboration called “milk &pizza.”

Rafferty said Pura Vida Miami’s concept fits within the district’s goals.

“We believe, based on the application and the nature of this operation, that this particular use is very consistent with the goals of the Harvard Square overlay district, that it is very much a cafe given its size of seating,” Rafferty said. “Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided.”

—Staff writer Adam Han can be reached at [email protected].