From the ground up · zero to open

You've pictured your café for years. Let's make sure you don't get burned opening it.

Grounds Up is a start-to-open program for first-time café owners. Learn the whole business inside a real, working New York café — then hand the build to the team that's already opened fourteen of them, on your budget.

Book a workshop → See how it works

14 cafés & restaurants built — NY · NJ · & beyond

Plan · Café Auburndale, Queens NY Interior of Café Auburndale, a working café in Queens, New York

The 2 a.m. thoughts

If you've been dreaming about it, you've probably been losing sleep over it too.

Every first-time owner we meet is carrying some version of these. Here's the short version of how we take each one off your plate.

Worry 01

"I don't even know what I don't know."

That's exactly what the workshop is for. One day inside a working café and the unknowns turn into a checklist you can actually work through.

Worry 02

"What if I run out of money halfway through the build?"

We design to your budget from day one — and we're the ones building it. The number you're quoted is the number that opens the doors.

Worry 03

"How do I know a space will even work before I sign?"

Our design team sketches your actual floor plan before you commit to a lease. If the space can't move enough covers at a rush, you'll be the first to know.

Worry 04

"What if a contractor takes me for a ride?"

There's no middle-man to mark you up. We run the training and the build — one team, one set of fully itemized numbers.

Why Grounds Up

Most café courses are a slideshow. Ours has a working espresso machine.

A real café, not a classroom

You learn behind the counter at Café Auburndale in Queens — real rushes, real equipment, real numbers. Nothing about this is theoretical.

We run cafés and build them

Between us we own two cafés and have built fourteen. You're learning from operators who serve customers and the people who physically build these spaces.

Built to your budget, not past it

Piece a café together vendor by vendor and it balloons. We fabricate our own millwork in-house, so we deliver the whole space for the number you set.

The path — zero to open

Five steps from "someday" to "now serving."

STEP 01

Workshop

A hands-on day inside a real café. Operations, equipment, layout, and the honest cost of everything you're about to take on.

STEP 02

One-on-one consultation

We go deep on your concept, your budget, your market — and whether your numbers actually hold up before you spend a dollar.

STEP 03

Design & floor plans

Our in-house team draws your space — layout, flow, and millwork — so you can sign a lease with your eyes fully open.

STEP 04

Build & millwork

We fabricate and build the entire space in-house, on budget, and keep you in the loop at every step of construction.

STEP 05

Open

Counters in, machines on, day-one SOPs in hand. You unlock the door already knowing how every part of it runs.

Built, not promised

We've built these. Yours could be next.

A selection of the cafés, bakeries, and restaurants our team has designed and built across New York and New Jersey.

Kona Coffee

East Village, NY

Café

Kona Coffee

Midtown, NY

Café

Paris Baguette

Manhattan, NY

Bakery Café

Breadstory

Manhattan, NY

Bakery

Kona Coffee

Chelsea, NY

Café

Café Auburndale

Queens, NY

Our café

Commercial builds delivered

Cafés & restaurants built

Locations for one coffee client

In-house design & millwork

Start here

Spend a morning behind the counter of a real New York café.

The workshop is the front door — low commitment, high signal. You'll leave knowing whether this dream is really for you, and exactly what your next step looks like.

Pull shots and steam milk on real, commercial equipment
Walk the layout that makes a rush flow — and the mistakes that jam one up
See the real buildout costs behind a café this size
Ask anything of people who both own and build cafés
Leave with an honest, specific picture of your own next step

Held in person at Café Auburndale, Queens. Outside the New York area? Ask about our remote program — we design your space and ship the millwork anywhere.

Reserve your seat →

Workshop floor A café counter and workspace built by the team

60-second gut check

Where are you on the journey?

Question 1 of 3

Straight answers

The questions everyone asks first.

None at all. Grounds Up is built specifically for first-timers — people with the dream and the drive but no operational background. That's who the whole program is designed around.

Yes. The in-person workshop runs at Café Auburndale in Queens, but we also offer a remote program: we consult, design your floor plan, fabricate your millwork, and ship the space to you. The build itself is most straightforward in the tri-state area, but design and equipment can go almost anywhere.

The workshop is a flat fee. Consultation and design are quoted to your specific project, and the build is a separate, fully itemized contract. Every stage is priced on its own — you always know exactly what you're paying for.

No. The workshop and consultation stand entirely on their own, and what you learn is yours to keep. Most people choose to build with us because we can hit their budget in a way piecing it out can't — but there's no obligation to.

It depends on the space, the scope, and your local permits — so we won't hand you a fake number. What we will do is give you a realistic, specific timeline during the consultation, once we've seen what you're working with.

Tell us your plan

Tell us about the café you've been picturing.

Where you are, what you're dreaming about, and what's holding you back. We'll tell you honestly what your next step looks like — no pressure, no pitch.

Got it — talk soon. Thanks for sharing. We read every one of these ourselves and will be back in touch about the next workshop and your next step.