Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly & Jim Grauel.
Hi Kimberly & Jim , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My husband had been part of corporate America for 35 years and I have been an independent business person for 20+ years, with the last 10 years spent working as a licensed real estate agent. We relocated from Sacramento CA to Gulf Breeze FL in 2019. In 2023 my husband lost his job and we found ourselves looking for a new path. One of our daughters lived in Jacksonville, so we started looking for business opportunities in the area and one of the first ones that we found was Round Bird. We visited the shop in April of 2024 and we knew right away that it was for us!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
What does a smooth road look like? No, it has not been smooth. It was a struggle to get the SBA loan to buy the business and 30 days into ownership, our 3 door refrigerator (the main one for the shop) died. It cost us about $7000 to replace it and that was most certainly an unexpected expense. We also went through some transitions with employees and it’s taken us several months to put together the best team.
As you know, we’re big fans of Round Bird Coffee Shop. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a coffee, wine and dessert bar. Our main focus is as a coffee shop with a variety food options. The shop has various South African features because that’s where the previous owners immigrated from. We have been looking into expanding hosting evening events and bringing more opportunities for the community to gather. We have a full wine list, as well as local craft beers. We have partnered with local artists to carry their products. We also offer energy spritzers, which are not offered in other cafes. We sell toffee from a group called Rethreaded, the profit goes to help human trafficking victims in Jacksonville. We have hosted trivia nights, live music, cheesecake and wine, and we have wine tasting and pasta cooking classes with a local chef every other month. We have several paint and sip classes with local artists coming up in May and June, as well as an olive oil & wine tasting event in June. We added incredible desserts to our menu from a local bakery in Jacksonville and we are looking to add panini sandwiches so that we have more lunch options to offer our customers. We buy our espresso from Social Grounds, which is one of the best roasters in the country! People LOVE our espresso and they love our creative flavors. Every month the staff comes up with a new theme for our flavor board, and we offer an incredible amount of flavors and options to our customers. We pride ourselves on offering a high quality product in a friendly and efficient manner. Our team knows that providing EXCELLENT customer service is our number one priority. Our new motto is Sip, Savor, Soar. We want people to think of Round Bird as the place to gather and relax with friends.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.roundbirdcoffee.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roundbirdcoffee/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roundbirdcoffee
