A barista chatting with two smiling customers at a modern café counter
One-on-one café consulting, design & build · New York

You've imagined this café a thousand times. Let's build the real one.

We start with the real numbers, one-on-one: what your café will actually cost, what financing looks like, and how many cups a day it takes to break even. Then, as far as you want to go, the same team that has built fourteen cafés designs, permits, and builds yours.

Contact us → See the four packages
Numbers session is a flat fee Every package stands on its own One team, from idea to open
14 cafés & restaurants built across NY & NJ
A morning at the counter
The daydream

It always starts the same way, with a daydream you keep coming back to.

A woman sketching plans in a notebook beside a cup of coffee It starts in a notebook

The morning light across the counter. The regulars who know your order. The smell of the first pour before the doors even open. You've pictured it a hundred times. What stops most people isn't the wanting. It's the hundred unknowns between the daydream and the doorway: the lease, the layout, the equipment, the build, the fear of one expensive wrong move.

Grounds Up exists to close that gap, from the first daydream to the first customer.

Why Grounds Up

Most advice is a slideshow. We sit down with you and run your real numbers, then build the real thing.

One-on-one, from the first hour

No group classes. Your first session is a flat-fee sit-down where we model your café together: costs, financing, and the number of cups you need to sell a day to break even.

We run cafés and we build them

Between us we own two cafés and have built fourteen. You learn from the people who serve the coffee, and the ones who build the room it's served in.

Built to your budget, not past it

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

Bonded, with capital financing

We are a bonded contractor, and we are able to provide capital financing for prospective customers. The build and the funding can both come from one team.

How we're different

Coffee consultants, build-out contractors, and Grounds Up.

We looked at how the rest of the industry is set up, from coffee consultancies and barista academies to commercial build-out contractors, to see where first-time owners fall through the cracks.

Capability
Coffee consultants
Build-out contractors
Grounds Up
One-on-one session that models your real numbers
Sometimes, hourly
Not offered
Yes, flat fee
Break-even modeling by zip code, size, and build level
Not offered
Not offered
Yes, with a report you keep
Concept, market and budget diagnosis
Yes
Not offered
Yes
In-house floor plans and millwork drawings
Often outsourced
Yes
Yes
Fabrication and construction by the same team
Not offered
Yes
Yes
Capital financing for your build
Not offered
Not offered
Yes, financing available
Owner-operators of their own café
Rarely
Not applicable
Yes, 2 locations
One team from start to open
Hands off after the plan
Starts after the plan
Consultation to open, one team
A bright, airy modern café with large windows and plants

Imagine the space that's unmistakably yours.

Four packages

From daydream to open doors, one package at a time.

Start with the numbers. Every package after that stands on its own and can be customized to what you want and what your budget allows. Go as far as you like.

01Flat fee

Know your numbers

A one-on-one session that turns your idea into real numbers.

We model your café live, with you: your zip code, your square footage, an easy, medium, or high-quality build, standard or upgraded equipment, and how you'd finance it. You leave with a written report and the number that matters most.

  • Total startup cost, itemized
  • Financing scenarios, from SBA loans to equipment financing
  • Monthly fixed costs and your break-even in cups per day
  • Play with the mix: all coffee, or coffee plus specialty drinks
02À la carte

Design and site consulting

Your brand, and the right space for it.

Brand look and feel from A to Z, or just the pieces you need: logo, cups, menu, signage, the room itself. And when you're looking at spaces, we work with your real estate agent and draw quick test-fit floor plans: why this space works, why that one won't.

  • Brand identity, as much or as little as your budget allows
  • Test-fit floor plans for each space you're considering
  • Honest read on layout, flow, and what a space will cost to make work
03Quoted per space

Permit and drawings

Once you commit to a space, we get it approved.

Full design and construction drawings, permit sets, and filing with the city, handled by the same team that will build it, so nothing gets drawn twice.

  • Complete drawing set, ready to file
  • Permits and approvals managed for you
  • Drawings built for fabrication, not just for the file
04Itemized contract

Build

Our shop, our crews, your space.

CNC fabrication, millwork, counters, and the full build-out by our own labor force, made to your true needs and your real budget. Then six months of support after you open.

  • Fabrication and construction under one roof
  • Built to the numbers from your session, not past them
  • Six months of post-opening support, included

Nothing is bundled against you. Take the numbers session and stop there if the numbers say so. Every package after it is customized and priced on its own.

A craftsman carefully measuring a piece of wood on a workbench

Drawn in-house. Built in-house.

Included with the build package

We don't disappear on opening day.

A contract usually ends when the counters go in. Ours doesn't. For six months after you open, we're still checking in.

A smiling café owner holding a we are open sign at her front door Opening day
Weeks 1 to 2

We're on call

A direct line to the build team for anything that needs adjusting once real rushes hit the space.

Months 1 to 3

A numbers check-in

One sit-down to look at real sales against the plan from your consultation, and adjust staffing or layout if the flow isn't working.

Months 3 to 6

Punch list, closed out

Any millwork or equipment issue that shows up under real daily use gets fixed, covered under the build contract, not billed as a callback.

Numbers, not guesses

What a small NYC café actually costs.

The ranges below are typical for the tri-state market, not a quote. Your numbers session replaces them with your own: your zip code, your square footage, your build level, your equipment.

FormatTypical footprintTypical build-out costCommon capital sources
Counter or takeaway-first400 to 600 sq ft$60,000 to $140,000Owner equity, equipment financing, SBA microloan
Seated, brick-and-mortar café800 to 1,400 sq ft$120,000 to $300,000Owner equity plus an SBA loan, private or family lending
Second location, proven conceptVariesBuild cost only, no consultation stage neededBusiness line of credit, term loan
217
cups a day to break even, in this example

Say your fixed costs land at $18,000 a month, your average coffee is $4.90, your gross margin is 65%, and you're open 26 days. You need about $27,700 in monthly sales: 217 cups a day. Swap 100 of those for $7 specialty drinks and the day looks very different. That's the number we find together in your session, then play with until it's yours.

Built, not promised

We've built these. Yours could be next.

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

East VillageMidtownManhattanChelseaQueensplus NJ builds
Kona Coffee, East Village
Kona Coffee
East Village, NY
Café
Kona Coffee, Midtown
Kona Coffee
Midtown, NY
Café
Paris Baguette, Manhattan
Paris Baguette
Manhattan, NY
Bakery Café
Breadstory, Manhattan
Breadstory
Manhattan, NY
Bakery
Kona Coffee, Chelsea
Kona Coffee
Chelsea, NY
Café
Café Auburndale, Queens
Café Auburndale
Queens, NY
Our café
0
Commercial builds delivered
0
Cafés & restaurants built
0
Locations for one returning coffee brand
0
In-house design & millwork
Inside Café Auburndale in Queens, New York Café Auburndale · Queens, NY
Start here

Start with a flat-fee, one-on-one numbers session.

It's the front door: low commitment, high signal. You leave knowing what your café really costs, what it takes to break even, and whether to keep going.

Contact us →
One on one, on purpose. In person at Café Auburndale in Queens, or remotely. The report is yours whether or not you take another package.
A barista steaming milk on a commercial espresso machine
  • Your zip code, square footage, and concept, modeled live
  • Easy, medium, or high-quality build: see what each level changes
  • Equipment, standard or upgraded, priced line by line: a second espresso machine, extra refrigeration, a pastry case
  • Financing options and what the payments do to your break-even
  • A written report you keep: total cost, monthly fixed costs, and your cups per day

Bring what you have, even if it's just a neighborhood and a number you'd be comfortable spending. We build the model around it.

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 entire program is designed around.

Yes. In-person sessions happen at Café Auburndale in Queens, but we also work remotely: 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 travel almost anywhere.

The numbers session is a flat fee. Design and site consulting is à la carte, quoted to what you want and what your budget allows. Permit and drawings are quoted per space, and the build is a separate, fully itemized contract. Every package is priced on its own and can be customized, so you always know exactly what you're paying for.

No. Every package stands on its own, and the report from your numbers session is yours to keep. Most people choose to keep going with us because the design, the drawings, and the build all come from one team that already knows their numbers, but there's never an obligation.

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're dreaming of.

Where you are, what you picture, and what's holding you back. We'll tell you honestly what your next step looks like, and it usually starts with the numbers. No pressure, no pitch.

A barista helping a smiling customer at the counter

We'll only use this to get back to you about your café.

Got it. Talk soon.Thanks for sharing. We read every one of these ourselves and will be in touch about next steps.
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