An Atlanta coffee shop is expanding with a new location.
Urban Grind is in the works at Pittsburgh Yards, an adaptive-reuse development focused on job creation and entrepreneurship. The coffee bar will be located in a shipping container near the Southside BeltLine Trail.
“I’ve been working on this for a couple years now,” owner Cassandra Ingram told What Now Atlanta. “I’m all about, how can we be creative? How can we be different? How can we provide a fresh approach to the coffee-drinking experience?”
The new coffee bar will serve the same coffee and tea beverages that customers have come to know and love at the West Midtown location, as well as breakfast sandwiches and paninis. Given the proximity to the BeltLine, some extra grab-and-go options may be available as well for added convenience.
“With all the competition now, so many coffee shops in Atlanta, how can you stand out and lean into what your culture is?” Ingram said. “This shipping container really helps highlight who we are.”
Urban Grind strives to cultivate conversation, culture and community – all centered around coffee.
“A great neighborhood coffee shop is a community gathering place where people can truly have that third place,” Ingram said, referring to the idea of a setting that’s different from the typical social environments of home and work.
Ingram always knew she wanted to do something entrepreneurial, but she really got a taste of coffee shop culture when living in New York.
“New York has great neighborhood coffee shops to visit,” she said. “You sit there and read the newspaper or sit on the patio and watch the world go by.”
There was one café in particular that she enjoyed. It had a large television, where the shop would show HBO’s Sex and the City, which became a regular gathering for fans of the show.
“We didn’t even know each other, but the same group of people met up and watched Sex and the City,” she said.
When Ingram moved to Atlanta, she knew she wanted to start her own business. She had three different ideas, one of which was a coffee shop.
That idea won. At the time, there weren’t many coffee shops in Atlanta, and Ingram wanted to cultivate the welcoming environment she had come to know and love at cafés in New York.
So she began building Urban Grind from scratch. It opened at 962 Marietta Street in 2007. The shop, which hosts community events like open mic nights, has cultivated a ton of regulars, some visitors stopping in several times a week or even every day. Some regular customers who have since moved out of Atlanta visit Urban Grind when they’re back in town.
“When you have a great product, marry that with a great environment and ambiance, you have something special,” Ingram said.
A big tea lover herself, she recommends the chai latte, which is one of their most popular drinks. Another fan favorite is the white raspberry mocha, which features white chocolate and raspberry syrup with espresso and steamed milk, topped with whipped cream and white chocolate drizzle. For something more straight-forward, visitors love the classic drip coffee, particularly Urban Grind’s Westside ATL Blend.
In addition to the new Pittsburgh Yards location, Urban Grind is preparing to launch a coffee truck.
“The main purpose is to be able to go to corporate events, schools, churches, TV and film locations to provide coffee service, take some great products to their location and give the same great experience and service,” Ingram said.
Urban Grind is expected to be open at Pittsburgh Yards by the end of 2024.
“I’m really excited about it,” Ingram said. “It’s going to be something really special.”
