The Glenview Grind, a locally-owned coffee shop, opened Sept. 1 at the intersection of Waukegan and Glenview Roads, replacing its predecessor, Caribou Coffee.
Although not registered with the state as a non-profit organization, The Glenview Grind states on its website that it plans to donate all profits “to support local community organizations and events.” Owner Perry Mandera, a Glenview resident himself, has set a goal to give back to the community through the business. All revenues, including Mandera’s personal earnings, will be donated to local youth organizations and other charitites.
“We are going to take the profits from The Glenview Grind and put [them] back in the community, sponsoring baseball teams, sponsoring hockey teams, sponsoring youth organizations,” Mandera said. “We want to give [them] back into the community because that’s who is supporting it.”
In addition to profits from sales of coffee and food, The Glenview Grind will raise money through monthly raffles, according to Mandera. The mon- ey from these raffles will be donated to a different organization every month. The Glenview Grind is first partnering with Sister Paulanne’s ‘Needy Family Fund,’ which is run by Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH), a Glenview church and school.
“Currently, we’re doing a fundraiser for OLPH… for Sister PaulAnne’s ‘Needy Family Fund,’” Samantha Duda, Glenview Grind employee, said. “You enter a dollar, [and] you get this raffle ticket — you’re actually entered to win a TV, and all of the money we are raising for that is going straight to [the fund]. We’ve already raised a lot.”
The money donated to the fund goes to local families in need of food and a home. Sister Paulanne was very grateful when she was informed of The Glenview Grind’s plan to donate to the fund because the need for help in the community is large at the moment, according to Sister Paulanne.
“We have been paying people’s rent, helping them keep their home, helping them have enough food,” Sister Paulanne said. “It’s really a tough time… and people can’t get help… I feel very strongly that [the church] has a responsibility to help people in need, and that would come under the ‘Needy Family Fund.’”
In addition to its focus on charity, The Glenview Grind has a community-based environment inside the shop itself because it is a local business, according to Mandera. Mandera re-hired all of the employees who had previously worked at Caribou who are already familiar with the community. According to Mandera, the staff that had lost their jobs because of the closing of Caribou Coffee had been victims of corporate America.
“We brought the [employees] back because of the friendliness, the professionalism,” Mandera said. “The learning curve was easy, they knew the customer base. It’s a real nice place where everyone gets along real well.”
The environment of The Glenview Grind is something that some customers see as an advantage over larger, corporate coffee shop chains.
“I love that it feels like a community-based business, not a big chain of places like Caribou did,” Karen Tallis, opening day customer, said. “It makes you want to be [t]here.”
So far, business at The Glenview Grind has been very good, according to employee Mike Zebrin, who formerly worked at a recently closed downtown Chicago Caribou Coffee location. Zebrin believes that this is a result of the fun, relaxed atmosphere inside of the Glenview Grind, which differs from the quiet, peaceful environment that Caribou had.
Although many customers enjoy the social environment, some students see it as a downside because they can no longer study in the coffee shop, as they had been able to at Caribou.
“I think it’s a more social environment than somewhere to go for a quality time to study,” John Tallis, South junior and opening day customer, said.
According to Mandera, besides the atmosphere, another difference between The Glenview Grind and Caribou Coffee is that the coffee that The Glenview Grind offers is of higher quality than the coffee that was offered at Caribou. They have a signature coffee blend, locally roasted by a company located in Schiller Park, according to Mandera. They also have high quality pastries and baked goods from Maeir’s Bakery in Morton Grove, Mandera said, which many customers have enjoyed so far.
South junior Jack Schiltz confirms the quality of food and drink.
Despite the presumed improved drink quality, many people still preferred Caribou Coffee over The Glenview Grind. According to an Oracle-conducted survey of 220 students, 75 percent of students prefer The Glenview Grind over Caribou.
“I liked Caribou better because the people there seemed a lot nicer and inviting- plus [it had] a better drink selection,” Nina Hood, a South freshman and frequent Caribou customer, said.
The entire Journalistic Writing class contributed to writing and reporting for this story.
