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Groundswell Coffee Expanding to Lincoln Avenue, West Loop

By Patty Wetli | March 4, 2016 8:25am | Updated on March 4, 2016 8:52am
 Groundswell Coffee Shop Opening
Groundswell Coffee Shop Opening
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LINCOLN SQUARE — Look out Bow Truss, Groundswell Coffee Roasters can play the expansion game too.

The indie coffee shop that opened less than a year ago on a bustling stretch of Damen Avenue has inked leases on two new locations, with more in the works, owner Jason Foster confirmed.

If all goes according to plan, Foster will be serving lattes and espressos by late summer/early fall at 5008 N. Lincoln Ave. — an area of Lincoln Square thirsting for revitalization — and at an unspecified West Loop site even sooner.

"The Damen store was sort of an opportunity to prove the concept and see if we could be successful with a limited amount of resources and space, and eventually grow it out," Foster told DNAinfo via email.

"I'm having tons of fun with Groundswell and plan to continue growing with more cafes and wholesale accounts until the market won't let me anymore," he said.

The new Groundswells will look and feel much like the original, with one notable exception, according to Foster.

"I like the rustic look of reclaimed barn wood and industrial-style light fixtures, so we'll remain pretty consistent with those things," as well as continuing to work with Black Dove Design, which designed the eye-catching mural at the Damen Groundswell, he said.

But the showpiece of the Damen shop — a lime-green, made-in-Idaho Diedrich IR 5 five-kilo roaster — isn't likely to be repeated.

"We're actually planning on moving the roaster to a new warehouse soon, about a mile up the street from our current shop," Foster said, adding that he eventually hopes to outgrow the five-kilo model and step up to a larger machine.

He said he also wants to up Groundswell's food game.

"The response to our lunch menu has been such a great surprise, I think it would be unambitious to not embrace a lineup of food that goes a bit beyond typical coffee shop fare," he said.

A Starbucks veteran, Foster is well aware that the Chicago market is crowded with both national brands and mom & pop coffee shops. So what's Groundswell's niche?

"I would love to say we're trying to do something revolutionary, but honestly our biggest thrill is buying, roasting and brewing great coffee while trying to share it with as many people as possible," he said.

"I'd like to stay with that approach and be the place where people who are a bit more apprehensive can come and discover what coffee can be."

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