It started with a pop-up table. Now Modesto farmers market favorite has its own cafe
Jamie Griswold started with a pop-up table and a love for coffee.
In fact, her plucky pop-up the Culture Coffee Bar was one of the first new ventures I wrote about when I returned to writing the Business Beat in 2017. Then, that humble table turned into a 16-foot trailer, which has been a staple at the Modesto Certified Farmers Market since 2020.
Now, some five years after she first stood outside her former gym with two large coffee carafes, the Downey High graduate has completed her journey and opened her first brick-and-mortar cafe.
Culture Coffee Bar opened two weeks ago in the Hobby Lobby shopping center on McHenry Avenue and is already bustling with activity. The cafe is a homecoming of sorts for Griswold, who started her coffee journey in front of Get Fit, where she worked as a trainer for nearly a decade, in the same complex.
Now her new cafe is two doors down from that same gym, in part of the former Sidelines space. The sports bar and comedy club has been closed and empty since at least 2009. Now, the cafe is bringing life and area residents back to the complex’s corner spot.
“It feels like home. It feels like we were meant to be here,” Griswold said. “You can tell the community needed it, This space was left empty and ugly for a long time and we’re bringing new life here, and I love that.”
Much like her artsy-crafty trailer, the 1,900-square-foot cafe has eclectic modern and rustic touches, including wooden highlights and a variety of seating choices. The staff now has three times the space to work in, and with considerably fewer bumped elbows than in the 50-square-foot trailer. The added room has also allowed Griswold to basically double her staff, from six to 11.
“Sometimes we bump into each other on purpose to reminisce,” she joked.
Fans of the trailer should take heart, though, it’s not going anywhere and will continue on at the Modesto Certified Farmers Market and the DoMo night markets.
The new cafe sells all the same espresso-based specialty drinks as the trailer, including hot, iced, cold brew and blended varieties. Culture Coffee also serves specialty pastries from Modesto-based bakers, including The Flakey Pastry and Boho Buttercream. The latter provides the cafe with a tasty-looking collection of vegan and gluten-free options.
Later this year, Griswold will bring more breakfast items to the menu, including a variety of avocado and other toasts.
So far, Griswold said, customers have been a mix of her trailer faithful and people who live in the surrounding neighborhood. It’s a far cry from the reception a potential developer of a new sports bar who wanted to go into the same space received back in 2009 shortly after Sidelines closed. That business decided to abandon its plans for a live entertainment venue after neighbors complained about added noise and possible problems.
Griswold’s cafe, though, had a mix of people — from parents with their kids to people working on laptops and friends meeting for an afternoon treat — streaming into the light, airy space. There is also plenty of outdoor seating.
Part of the community buy-in to the new venture is the result of two successful crowd-funding campaigns over the years. Griswold launched Kickstarters for both the trailer and the cafe, raising more than $47,000 to keep expanding her dreams.
“I think people see our heart for the community. We’ve been very transparent about our journey to get from here to there,” Griswold said. “When people come and buy a cup of coffee from us, they know it’s going toward the larger community instead of some big corporation.”
And to think, it all started with a table.
Culture Coffee Bar, at 2801 McHenry Ave., Suite A, is open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, closed Sundays. For more information, call 209-409-8102 or visit www.culturecoffeebar.com.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
