Community Highlights: Meet Gabi Angelini of Gabis Grounds Coffee Shop

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabi Angelini. 

Hi Gabi, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
When Gabi graduated High School, she interviewed for many jobs, nobody would hire her. We saw her friends experiencing the same prejudice. Gabi always wanted to have her own restaurant so we started to seriously think about how we could make that happen. Then we heard about Bitty and Beau’s coffee shops in Wilmington that hired people with special abilities. So, we took a trip there and I said I could do a coffee shop instead of a restaurant and Gabi said let’s do it! 

We came back and met with a local, organic, coffee roaster, Larry’s Coffee, he loved the idea of a coffee shop to employ people with special abilities, and Gabi’s Grounds Coffee was born! We do pop-ups with hot and iced coffee and can serve up to 500 people at a time. We have an online store with lots of coffee options and many coffees related merchandise at www.gabisgrounds.com. 

Fast forward 3 years, we moved out of our garage and into a co warehousing space where we ship our products but we also have discovered a new way to employ people, we do labelling, packing, and shipping for other companies. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We worked really hard at our pop-ups and traveled across the country at conferences where Gabi would tell people about how they could make their dreams come true. We did a go fund me and raised $50k in 3 days. We were featured on the Kelly Clarkson show. But we never raised enough money to open a coffee shop. I guess God had other plans because at our warehouse we now employ 27 people with special abilities. 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a non-profit 501c3 We employ 27 people with special abilities 

We offer local, organic, fair-trade coffees 

We offer sample packets for weddings or thank you gifts 

What’s next?
We would like to duplicate what we are doing across the country. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.gabisgrounds.com
• Instagram: gabisgrounds
• Facebook: gabis grounds coffee
• Twitter: gabis grounds
• Youtube: gabis grounds coffee

Image Credits:
Catherine Davis Photography
Grace Copeland