Ferris Coffee plans to test drive new Trust Building location with ArtPrize pop-up shop

Ferris Coffee & Nut Co. announced plans last week to create a pop-up coffee shop for the three-week ArtPrize 2015 event in downtown Grand Rapids, with the intention of making its new space on the ground floor of the historic Trust Building a permanent second location by next spring. 

“We’re thrilled with the location. It’s a very historic building with very old bones,” says David VanTongeren, director of retail at Ferris Coffee & Nut.

Almost one year after successfully launching its flagship location on Grand Rapids’ west side at 227 Winter Ave., VanTongeren says the coffee roasters feel perfectly poised to expand the Ferris Coffee brand — and with ArtPrize 2015 promising some guaranteed foot traffic, there was no time like the present.

“We were approached by Sam Cummings at CWD (Real Estate Investment) with the opportunity and after talking with them, it all fell into place that this was the perfect time to expand our coffee footprint and build a shop on the other side of the river,” he says. 

Family-owned and operated since 1924, Ferris Coffee & Nut Co. operated a mobile coffee truck outside of the B.O.B. for the past two ArtPrize seasons in 2013 and 2014, using the opening of its Winter. Ave location last fall to not only increase production capacity, but also open a new coffee education center called The Foundry, intended to create a more mindful and collaborative coffee community. 

It’s part of an arguably growing trend in the downtown Grand Rapids business community to gain brand recognition for small businesses through collaborative event-based efforts such as the recent July 12 Great Vegan Grand Rapids Pop-Up Bakery, for example, which was hosted by Grand Rapids Coffee Roasters at its home on Godfrey Ave. SW and, over the course of three hours, drew hundreds of customers to help increase sales and brand recognition for six area bakeries. 

The new Ferris Coffee & Nut Co. pop-up shop will sell a limited menu of classic espresso beverages and brewed coffees from Ferris’ tier two and tier three offerings during the three-week ArtPrize event, alongside seasonal, non-alcoholic coffee-based cocktails. 

“I think Ferris is unique in having the quality of coffee we offer and [being] able to do it in a very high-volume setting,” VanTongeren says, adding that when the new location becomes permanent in March 2016, the roasters are exploring the addition of new menu items. 

“We are looking at non-coffee options for beverages so whether that’s something alcoholic or non-alcoholic, we’re open to branching beyond just coffee,” he says.

For more information, visit Ferris Coffee & Nut Co. on the web or find them on Facebook. 

Written by Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of Ferris Coffee & Nut