We committed ourselves to local high quality coffee roasters, and to source everything we reasonably could from the Twin Cities. We invited musicians who could play for free, offered our walls to local artists, and installed a new patio.
In September of 2011, calamity struck in the form of a collapsed ceiling. We closed our doors, hoping we could make the necessary repairs and reopen. It took us three months, but we were able to transform our dilapidated space into a clean, bright space to gather our neighbors once again. Realizing that volunteer baristas could only take us so far, we transitioned to a completely paid staff, and partnered with Dogwood Coffee to train our baristas with the expertise of the best roasters and baristas in the Twin Cities.
In December of 2012, we found out that our next door neighbors at 1340 Thomas, Borealis Yarns, were closing their doors. We decided to expand. We added a full bakery kitchen and began offering in-house bakery and cafe food. We restored the hardwood floors, added reclaimed wood tables (handmade by our friend and local artist Marc LeMaire!), and, with the neighborhood’s support, brought in beer and wine. We enlisted a friend to open a shop in our space that featured arts and crafts, handmade by local artists. Neighbors and friends supported the build out by buying “founder memberships,” investing money into our business in exchange for receiving a free drink from us every day.
We re-opened to a flood of people, press attention, and a recognition that we had lots to learn about running a restaurant! The next few years, we worked to settle in as the new, bustling café we had become. We hosted baby showers, art classes, and meetings with city officials. We grew our annual local music festival Grounds & Sounds, and began holiday traditions like our Cookie Decorating with Santa night. We made wedding cakes for couples who had their first date here and later got engaged here. We hosted a parklet with our friends from Friendly Streets Initiative. We partnered with Emily Anderson of HWY North to provide local artists a venue in which to sell their work. We became a filming site for a movie.
In 2015, our baker and general manager, Megan Greulich, appeared on Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge. The national exposure helped expand our bakery, and Megan’s ugly Christmas sweater cookies became a fixture of our holiday season.
Then, in April 2016, an accident on our corner propelled a car through the front of our building. Gratefully, no one was hurt. And, true to the spirit of the neighborhood, our neighbors showed up in waves, checking in on us and offering to help us clean up. Our table designer, Marc LeMaire, returned and painted a mural over the boards that now covered a large section of our front windows. When we closed down for three weeks in November for repairs, Marc returned again, providing art for our dining rooms, as well as painting and carpentry support. Our staff and owners once again came together and painted the walls, wood burned signs, and built more tables. We opened to a refreshed space, with new kitchen equipment, and beautiful, bright new windows.
In all of it (which is now over the course of almost ten years!), we’ve been daily reminded of how much we love this place–the people, the space, the coffee and food, this corner in this neighborhood we care so much about. We hope you love it too!
GROUNDSWELL IS AN EXPERIMENT IN…
CULINARY ART
We love food and drink! Foods have inherent flavors, aromas, layers, and chemistry that we respect and love to play with. We think creating and serving food is an art form that brings people together.
ATTENTION TO DETAIL
The difference between good food and great food is in the details. Grams, ounces, volumetrics, and degrees matter to food and drink, so they matter to us! Close is not good enough.
SIMPLICITY
We will keep our cafe and menu options creative, clean, and simple. We will do a few things well.
HUMILITY (DOWN-TO-EARTHINESS)
Humility comes from the root word for human, which means dirt. We remember that even though we care about creating excellent food and drink, we do that from a humble corner in a down to earth neighborhood of St Paul.
RELATIONSHIPS
We are a human community that is interdependent, from owners, to managers, to baristas, to customers, to vendors, farmers, and artists. We are interconnected. And we all benefit when we work together, with mutual respect.
FUN
We will enjoy what we do and how we do it. When it is no longer fun, we will stop.
