Failing Businesses, It’s a Grind.
Every morning, at 6a.m. the smell of fresh coffee, and pastries fills the air, and the faint sound of soft jazz can be heard, along with indistinct chatting. On a busy corner in Long Island City The Grind is a café that has been a neighborhood hangout spot that has even attracted many outside of neighborhood. Despite being on a busy street business has been a financial rollercoaster for owner Nikko Zotelo. He had opened The Grind and enjoyed a successful run, Zotelo is now two months behind on rent. And like a business’ success is telling of a neighborhood’s own economic status, we see that the entire neighborhood is suffering.
The Grind had originally been located on 39-24 Queens Blvd., on a busy corner. The space had been 2,000 sq feet and had cost $3,200 a month, it had been a sound investment at the time, as the nearest competing coffee shop had been several miles away, much too inconvenient for anyone. A year later a Starberry had opened, “a knock off Pinkberry” Zotelo said, on the same block. A year and a half later Starbucks came to Long Island City. Located just another 4 blocks away had started draining the grind of its business, even though The Grind had a long standing camaraderie with the locals and the neighboring businesses. Everyone gravitated to the coffeehouse giant. The Grind finally had to move into a spot that was smaller but just as visible. “My heart was breaking, after everything we [The Grind family] had done we still couldn’t keep our own spot, we’re still not giving up but it’s difficult to see everything you’ve worked so hard for crumble. The worst part is letting go of people.” The reason for the move was simple, cheaper rent. The new home for The Grind is 1700 sq feet and costs about $2,500.
Zotelo had started The Grind off with a simple menu and an even simpler venue: coffees and teas comparable in their intricacy to Starbucks and just a few pastries, which at first had carried the business well, and eventually became unprofitable. He eventually expanded the menu to include lunch items and had purchased several computer terminals and made the cafe Wi-Fi compatible. Expanding the menu, signage, and the computer equipment had set him back $3,000 out of his own pocket. He then got a liquor license and increased the store’s hours. What had originally been from 7a.m. to 12a.m. for the entire week had then become 630a.m. to 2a.m Monday through Friday and from 7a.m.-2a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
When business was at its peak The Grind had seven waiters, all of whom earned $7 plus tip, two cooks, and two cashiers. While Nikko was very involved in his business investment he wasn’t always at The Grind, and often left one of the cashiers in charge. Although the staff had been kept busy, and were integral to the café’s success since they themselves were neighborhood faces, and as such were familiar with everyone, eventually business began to slow down.
The first to be let go were two waiters, both of them the newest and youngest members of The Grind team. As time went on and business took to an even bigger slow down, Nikko began to work at The Grind. Although he wasn’t paying himself on the same scale, he would often spend his entire day at his café, picking up slack wherever needed, only because he could barely keep his current staff on. Before the move, when business was slowing down, Nikko had tried everything to stay afloat, “little by little, less people came in, and at one point the reason we were doing alright was only because we wine on the menu and whatever sport was on for the season always brought a crowd and we’d always sell the whole beer and wings combo. Hell, at a certain point we even did a bucket of ice cold beers for $10, only because we could still make a profit off of it.”
Little by little business had started to die down until eventually a chef and cashier had to be let go. Then at last another waiter had to go. Even “open-mic night Thursdays” where local performers, singers, poets, even bands, didn’t draw as big a crowd, Nikko knew he had to move. Even now after the move and the extreme size reduction, The Grind is scraping by. What had been a profitable and novel idea, was now a business bust. The Grind on a busy month would bring in about $12,000. Eventually as business dwindled and is as it is now, stagnant The Grind pulls roughly $9,000. The Grind is no longer Wi-Fi compatible, only has an open-mic night every other Thursday, and is now open from 7a.m. to 10:30p.m. The most comforting thought to Zotelo is “even after all the trouble that I’ve been through and all the problems with competition Starbucks is gone, and so is Starberry. It’s funny, even though I’m scraping by and I don’t always make my plan, I love that I’m still here, the tiny nobody coffee guy, and Starbucks is gone.”