Buying a coffee shop in the middle of a pandemic sounds like a challenge, but Urban Grind Coffee Co. owner Kevin D’Amico had a plan.
D’Amico purchased the Downtown coffee shop Oct. 1. It had been closed since March 27 at the start of the pandemic.
Going in, he knew the shop wouldn’t be performing as usual. Many Downtown workers still are working remotely, and until they start coming back that won’t change.
“We have to just be smart, hunker down, run it the right way,” D’Amico said. “But you know, I figure at some point between now and the spring, this is all going to be over. People are going to come back to work and we’ll be up and running it full blast.”
Stacey Goldberg, former owner of the coffee shop, helped with the transition, and her company, St. Augustine-based Screaming Peacock Coffee Company, roasts coffee beans for Urban Grind.
Goldberg opened Urban Grind in February 2015 at 45 W. Bay St. It serves coffee drinks, bagels, pastries, wraps, salads, sandwiches and its popular chicken salad.
D’Amico has added online ordering and a few new dessert items. In January, he plans to open the store on Saturdays. If that goes well, he could add Sunday.
He also plans to acquire a beer and wine license in January. The shop would stay open into the evening, at least until 7 p.m. Its hours now are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Eventually, D’Amico said he wants to host wine tastings and events in the atrium behind the shop called The Urban Garden.
Urban Grind shares the building with the Daniel James Salon & Spa and vacant office space that was leased to Folio Weekly.
Since reopening, D’Amico said he added three new employees and hired back one.
D’Amico, 44, is a veteran and an entrepreneur who enjoys buying and running his own business. He served in the U.S. Marines for eight years, started and sold a fitness equipment company and owned liquor stores in Colorado.
“I have a business degree and I like to use it,” D’Amico said.
Once the pandemic subsides and the shop is running “full throttle,” D’Amico said he wants to add more Urban Grind locations Downtown and in surrounding neighborhoods, such as Murray Hill, Riverside and the Southbank.
He also would consider buying existing coffee shops in the area and rebranding them as Urban Grind. He estimates another shop could be open in the next year or two.
“I want to keep building the Urban Grind brand,” D’Amico said.
