Customers often tell Andrea that her café has the “quality and trendiness of an inner city café but with the friendliness of a favourite local hangout”.
“It’s exactly what we want to be,” she says. “We’re a home away from home. We want to get to know our customers and bring a modern feel to the outer suburbs.”
Located in the leafy green suburbs of Greensborough in Victoria, Urban Grooves Café Owners Emmanuel Tsesmelis and Andrea Fragiadakis have transformed their café into a local coffee destination.
With no previous café experience – Andrea in marketing and advertising, Emmanuel in fashion retail – the couple took on the challenge of operating their own business six years ago, and haven’t looked back. “We’ve really built it up to be a bustling café. We don’t have tourism or walkthroughs, so we have to rely on regulars and providing something new all the time, which means rotating menus and offerings,” Andrea says.
Urban Grooves Café offers a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu, with an extensive range from pizzas to seafood share plates, and steaks to smashed avocado on sourdough. The idea to keep things “fresh and relevant” has led Urban Grooves Café to start a partnership with Grinders Coffee, which Andrea says is just another step in offering customers quality coffee from one of the finest master rosters in Australia.
“We chose Grinders’ Brazil Style blend because we believe that this represents a classic coffee that our customers prefer. The smooth, well-balanced style of the Brazil blend has been really well received. It’s a medium roast with a smooth finish and fruity notes, which we love. Plus the support from Grinders has been fantastic,” she says.
“We really value a consistent product, and it’s something we value in Grinders Coffee. We guarantee a smile every time a customer walks in the door, we guarantee good food, and now we’re excited to guarantee great coffee.”
Andrea welcomes her customers with open arms and hopes they enjoy their casual, comfortable dining experience. It seems they already do. Urban Grooves were finalists in the Banyule Business Awards in August as voted by customers.
“A café is a part of a community,” Andrea says. “I see the same people every day. I get to see couples have their first date, then one day become parents. The best part is that we become part of people’s lives.”