About

        When my mom, Monique, was growing up, she used to watch my grandmother have tea with her friends and just have such a beautiful time. Since then it was always her dream to open her own tea and coffee shop. That dream was partially made true in 2015 when she purchased a coffee shop off of the owners who wanted to retire. I had never seen my mom so passionate and in love with what she was doing than I did when she owned that shop, until now. Four months before COVID-19 began, we sold the coffee shop because the area it was located in was changing and we were growing out of it. For the entirety of COVID-19 I was doing online classes for Dalhousie University, and walking to nearby coffee shops was really our only vice and escape from the same four walls. However, it reminded us, especially my mom, how much we missed owning a place of our own. So when we came across the listing online for this space, we immediately fell in love. We signed the dotted line in three days and immediately rolled up our sleeves and got to work. The space had recently been converted from a laundromat to a cafe, but it was really a skeleton of a restoration. We got to paint, design, and decorate the space just how we always dreamed. Coming up with the name of our cafe, we wanted something that had meaning; something that resembled who we are as a family, and what we love. Grounded was chosen because we feel at home here. This is our home away from home. Once we knew that, that was our inspiration for decorating. We wanted guests to walk in and feel like they were home too. 

 

        A lot of people always say not to get into business with your family, and for good reason of course! We are grateful though that that doesn't apply to us because we aren't mother and daughter, she's my best friend. We lean on each other when we know the other needs it. Don't get me wrong we have our little arguments as I'm sure every mom and daughter are familiar with. However, by the end of the day, we are blasting our early 2000s pop playlist, dancing, and cleaning the shop like we have my whole life. It has been a learning experience, and definitely one of growth for both of us. Through the tribulations, we have honestly just become closer than I could have thought possible for her and I. I am just so incredibly proud of her and honoured to have such a strong, incredible woman for a mom. 

 

        Right now we are just so ecstatic to be open after how challenging COVID has been on small businesses. However, we are excited to be opening a patio on the side of our lovely corner building once the weather permits us. We want to have live music nights, we will be having a bottleshop soon featuring local breweries and cocktail kits as well. Long term, we hope to open a location up north so that we can enjoy cottaging and boating; very big passions in my family.

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With all my love,

Jess Mantella

Manager and partial owner of grounded. Coffeebar