A New Brew is Coming to King Street

After all, there’s always room for another coffee shop in Saint Augustine.

By Chloe Smith

Local coffee lovers, get ready to add yet another spot to your lineup—the chef-driven coffee house Southern Grounds & Co. has chosen St. Augustine as the site for its first-ever location outside of Jacksonville. 

“As we have studied St. Augustine, we believe this could be the next great food destination in America, like Charleston, Miami, and Asheville,” Southern Grounds & Co. owner Mark Janasik said. “We are so excited to put our first concept outside of Jacksonville, Florida, here.”

Southern Grounds, or SoGro, is targeting its grand opening for the first week of December. 

The shop is taking shape at 124 King St., just two blocks from Flagler College near the Lincolnville Historic District. It occupies a building that once housed the Catholic Daughters Club.

“For us, the renovation of a historic property is often a starting point and anchor for the redevelopment of a block, street, or district,” Janasik said. “We love bringing old buildings back to life.”

Using preservation architects and interior designers, Janasik and his team intend to renovate the home in a way that considers the community’s deep-rooted heritage and character. They want to maximize the building’s infrastructure and development while encouraging growth in an already developed area.

“First and foremost, we are a neighborhood coffee shop,” Janasik said. “For us, there is no better way to support a historic neighborhood than putting a ‘gathering spot’ that honors the community.”

Janasik says architecture and the right location are critical for a new opening, noting that the building has to add to the experience. And Southern Grounds & Co. sure does pride itself on providing a truly top-notch coffee experience for its communities. 

The chain serves “third-wave coffee,” a movement prioritizing taste quality, unique flavors, and equitable relationships over low prices and standardization. Its locations feature high-quality coffee, direct trade, sustainability, and complex roast profiles, such as lighter and seasonal roasts. 

“This movement considers coffee an artisanal food, like wine, whose consumption experience can be enhanced with greater education, connoisseurship, and sensory exploration beyond just a cup of coffee,” Janasik said. 

Besides their espresso and coffee-based beverages, which I assume are basically liquid gold standard, Southern Grounds also serves everything from breakfast, lunch, and dinner to wine, cheese boards, and Makenu chocolate. 

According to staff and various Yelp reviews, some of their most popular dishes include Avocado Toast, Grits Bowl, Baja Ancient Grain Bowl, and several breakfast sandwiches. 

“The quality of our coffee, food, ambiance, and hospitality become the outstanding experience we are known for,” Janasik said. “We take particular care to assure our food offerings are sustainably grown and practice mindful nutrition and kindness in hospitality.”

Southern Grounds & Co. has redefined what it means for a restaurant to be “healthy,” expanding the term into a much larger philosophy that embraces things like giving back to the community, caring for the environment, and reducing waste. 

The brand has disrupted the industry’s standard supply chain for coffee houses by reducing plastic product consumption in its model by over 50%. Southern Grounds & Co. has also demanded sustainable farming practices from its suppliers, reduced its vendors’ environmental impact, and used green building products in its building and interior design.  

“While these only make small dents in status quo currently, we believe, as we rapidly grow, these changes would be significant,” Janasik said. 

Believing his brand ethos aligns well with the values of locals, students, and visitors alike, Janasik sees SoGro evolving into a hub that enriches the St. Augustine community.

“Think about your hometown, your city, your community, and I think you will agree that restaurants are key to its vibrancy, its economic development, and its social infrastructure,” Janasik said.