Ground Up Coffee brings a gourmet brew to Whitney Avenue

Whitney Avenue in Hamden, Connecticut, is home to plenty of beloved local businesses. Whether it be Ray & Mike’s Deli, Glenwood Drive-In or Whitney Donut and Sandwich Shop, there’s no shortage of favorites.

However, a new challenger has entered the ring: Ground Up Coffee.

Located at 2784 Whitney Ave., Ground Up serves a variety of traditional espresso drinks, normal drip coffee, a spread of locally-sourced pastries, as well as bagels straight from Shef’s Bagels down the road in Cheshire.

Ground Up opened in Hamden on June 24 and stays open seven days a week from 6:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. on weekends. 

Co-owned by New Haven County residents Matt Nolan, Mike Altieri and Jesse Horsford, the trio saw the coffee shop as a personal challenge apart from their respective careers.

“Amongst ourselves we had a good track record for starting something and making it successful,” Nolan said. “So that helped with the intimidation factor of starting something more retail-based, which none of us do.”

As self-proclaimed coffee fanatics, Altieri and Horsford specifically worked to ensure the quality of their product without any goal of cutting costs on their end. The result may be a cup of joe that is a little more expensive than you may be used to, but it also may be a bit tastier than you are used to, as well.

“(If we weren’t coffee fans) I don’t think we would have worked as hard to get a bean and a coffee that we really enjoyed the taste of,” Horsford said.

“We tried probably 30 different beans and 30 different coffees, where if we weren’t coffee drinkers, we probably would have just put more of a focus on, ‘Oh, we can save $1 or $2 a pound.’”

The focus on the product led to the store’s initial rush of business through the summer and into the fall.

The amount of business that Ground Up gets at the moment is all natural, as the owners admitted to not doing any advertising on their end aside from an Instagram account. 

“It’s been steady,” Altieri said. “It’s all pretty much word-of-mouth besides social media. But I would say it’s been getting support, but you can definitely have room for improvement.”  

The first few months of operation allowed Ground Up employees to get a feel for Hamden as a neighborhood before Quinnipiac University’s fall semester began on Aug. 28. 

Nolan is a Hamden native and takes pride in serving his hometown through Ground Up.

“I bleed green and gold,” Nolan said referring to the colors of Hamden High School. “I don’t even tell people I moved to North Haven. I’ve run into a few people in town that I haven’t seen in 20 years and I’m grateful that they came to the shop.”

Francesca Palma of Northford, Connecticut, works in Hamden and found out about the coffee shop through coworkers.

“I probably will (come back),” she said. 

The owners hope to eventually expand to other locations where they can experiment with features, such as a drive-thru and build a bigger brand.

“We appreciate all the people that are from (Hamden) that come here and have made this their coffee shop,” Nolan said. “However, we still want to appeal to a broader audience.”