About Ground Central Coffee
After gaining a masters degree from the Paris School of Business, Etienne Wiik became the franchise partner and distributor, for the whole of France, for a Swiss brand of commercial coffee machines. In true ‘bean to cup’ fashion, Etienne was not content to just sell machines, he sourced and became a distributor for a range of freshly roasted coffee beans, imported from Spain. The circle was completed, and this first endeavor would bode well for the future.
With a change of pace and place, in 2013 Etienne Wiik came to New York, seeking fame and fortune, and like the analogy, of ‘selling ice to an Eskimo’, Etienne decided to open a coffee shop. Competition of course was fierce and in the haze of New York coffee joints, was there room for one more brand? Etienne thought there was, and Ground Central Coffee was born. Having grown up in the toughest part of Paris, the 93rd District, Etienne had no fear of what New York could throw at him. Full of passion and determination, Etienne set out to create a chain of coffee shops with a very different brand to that of its competitors, in that there was no defining brand.
Each Ground Central Coffee shop has its own personality, themes, and distinct look, with the common thread being that New York is reflected in their interiors. This individual look was bolstered by a “no staff uniform” policy that helped give each Ground Central Coffee its own flavor, personality, and identity. In such a large city, made up of districts, each Grand Central has the feel of an independent ‘village’ coffee shop, and so the journey began and wherever possible, suppliers had to be local, with produce being the best it can be. As for the price point, rather than selling 200 cups a day at $12, the Ground Central business model was to serve 2000+ cups a day at $7 to $8. Etienne comments “The strategy is to focus on coffee and sell volume consistently and quickly, rather than the typical coffee shop strategy which is to increase the average check by pushing food, and our volume strategy is to sell more coffee, which has a higher margin than food.”
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Growing with Paperchase
When Paperchase started working with Ground Central Coffee, they only had 3 locations with the first location opening in 2013. Maryann Silverio, Paperchase account handler comments.
“Vendors were a huge issue here and we reconciled all the vendors to ensure they were current with their balances. Due to this, credit terms greatly improved. There were some vendors they were using that were too expensive compared to the market rate, and we made recommendations to switch providers.”
“Recently, we’ve been going above and beyond our scope – we’ve been doing credit term applications and applications for their certificate of authority and even unemployment insurance. When they were switching to a new POS system, we identified repetitive software subscriptions they should cancel that were costing them money.
“I am most proud of helping them with ALL COVID-related applications including EIDL, SBA, PPP, and ERTC which allowed management to focus on sustaining their business during this difficult time.”
“I regularly communicate with Thomas Olmedo from Ground Central Coffee to help his team deliver invoices and other information on time so the most accurate reports possible are delivered to Ground Central Coffee. Those reports helped the business to identify their current profitability so that they could make appropriate expansion decisions. There were outstanding receivables sitting in delivery apps that the client was aware of that we discovered during reconciliation, we flagged this, and they recouped the money.”
“With Paperchase on their side, Ground Central Coffee was able to focus on its expansion and let us take care of the numbers. We’ve helped them by catching vendor errors, and managing multiple locations as they grew, and we have constant contact with their team to support operations. The business greatly reduced food costs, which previously were 40% and now it’s down to 20% at each location. Today, the business has 10 locations with more on the drawing board” concludes Maryann.
The Future of Ground Central Coffee
Etienne Wiik sums up, “We are ambitious and still plan to develop new sites and are looking to raise $10 – $20 million to facilitate that expansion. Paperchase are writing our business plans and creating our Investment Deck, which will help us get in front of potential investors. Expansion will allow us to open more sites, we will integrate production, acquire a coffee roasting company, and then work hard not to dilute the brand, which many businesses do when they reach that tipping point, but keeping that small village shop in a big city vibe will be our unique selling proposition. We are working to get processes in place, without which it would be impossible to expand.”
“Personally, there is a limit to the number of 16-hour days that I can work. One cannot keep dividing oneself to cover all the basis and as a result, putting solid processes in place is the only solution and will enable us to scale up. Having said that, am I still having fun? Hell, yes, I am. Every day is a workday, and every workday is a fun day” concludes Etienne Wiik, founder and head Barista.
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