Ground Floor Coffee expands its seating area -- offering venue space to community

NEW BEDFORD -- Ground Floor Coffee is quickly gaining popularity for coffee lovers on Merrill's Wharf. What started as a small and upscale coffee shop in June of 2023, has now expanded to include a back room with more space for customers.

"It can comfortably fit 100 people and potentially up to 120," said owner Mel McCarthy-Pepin, adding that she saw the need for more space in the cafe due to its growing popularity.

With 2,000 square feet of space, the plans are to use it both as an overflow area for the cafe and available for rent for private events and meetings. McCarthy-Pepin said organizations have already had interest to utilize the space such as the New Bedford Film Festival which will make the area its hub for filmmakers April 18-21.

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But the back room will also be utilized to feature their soon-to-be-installed roaster. It will offer a selection of freshly roasted beans from all over the world, that anyone can access such as other local businesse.

"We're hoping to get some local restaurants and businesses interested in purchasing our beans as well since it's locally roasted," said McCarthy-Pepin. "Once the roaster gets in and we learn how to work it, we'll be developing a process where people can choose the region of coffee and go through the roasting process with us."

McCarthy-Pepin said she wants to set it up so that anybody can come in and go through a process with them, choosing a certain regions of coffee and having it roasted to their specifications.

Ground Floor also hosting Sunday artisan markets

In addition to offering a unique roasting experience, Ground Floor Coffee also offers a diverse menu. Ground Floor Coffee has their exclusive espresso machine built into the counter, setting them apart from most coffee shops in the area.

The menu is divided into four sections such as drip coffee, americano, chai latte and an affogato which is double espresso over oatly soft serve. The iced delights section features a cold brew, iced matcha lemonade and 16 ounce or 20 ounce restore, recharge, replenish and revive fruit drinks.

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Ground Floor Coffee is also offering a Sunday artisan market, with a variety of artists showcasing their work, including aerial photography, paintings, and plant art. The markets offers a unique opportunity for customers to interact with the artists and learn more about their work. And its free for artisans to sign-up to show their work.

The cafe's quick success has been a pleasant surprise for McCarthy-Pepin. "It's been remarkable and I can't believe that we've had the turnout that we've had... It's a tremendously amazing feeling," she said.

"It's literally like my dream come true."

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter:@ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Ground Floor Coffee expands seating area to 100 at cafe location