A coffee chain that got its start out of a mobile trailer in small-town Alabama is setting up shop in Montgomery. Grit & Grind Coffee is planning a new franchise location at 15444 Hwy. 105 W., Ste. C.
The project carries an estimated price tag of $300,000 to renovate a 2,000-square-foot space, according to Community Impact Newspaper. Construction is set to begin Oct. 15 and wrap up by Jan. 15, the outlet reports, putting the buildout on a tight roughly three-month timeline heading into the new year.
A filing was recently submitted to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to begin that buildout, per the same report. The standard Grit & Grind franchise setup offers coffee and espresso drinks, cold brews, energy drink infusions, baked goods and breakfast foods, according to Community Impact.
From a Trailer in Opp, Alabama, to Multistate Franchise
Grit & Grind Coffee has come a long way from its roots. The company got its start serving coffee from a mobile trailer in Opp, Alabama, according to the brand's own company history, which describes the operation blossoming from one small trailer into multiple locations across state lines.
The company says it expanded into two new states during its third season, part of a broader push that has carried it well beyond its Alabama origins. Grit & Grind was founded by Eric and Destiny Rowell, according to a profile posted on the company's website, which notes the brand now has locations in Texas, Mississippi, Utah, Louisiana and Alabama as it continues expanding through franchising.
Montgomery will mark more than a dozen franchise locations the company has opened across the country, per Community Impact's reporting. The Rowells' venture describes its aim as creating a welcoming and inclusive community that uplifts and inspires everyone it crosses paths with, according to its website.
A Coffee Market That's Kept Growing With Montgomery County
Grit & Grind's arrival taps into a local coffee scene that has been building for years alongside the area's population growth. Locally owned coffee shops were described as rising in popularity across Montgomery County as Houston's urban sprawl pushed outward, according to a 2019 chron.com report, which characterized the market as growing by the day as the population swelled, even as the area lagged more concentrated regions in high-end coffee outlets.
That same report pointed to shops like BeanPunk Coffee, which had a Montgomery location at 401 College St., Suite No. 170, in 2018, and Trixie's Coffee Shop, which operated at 19700 Hwy. 105 W. as of early 2019. Whether those earlier shops remain open today isn't established in available reporting, but their presence underscores how long Montgomery's Hwy. 105 corridor has drawn coffee entrepreneurs looking to serve a growing customer base.
