Jacksonville-based Southern Grounds coffee house is growing again. Here's what we know.
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Days before the ribbon-cutting of its second Jacksonville International Airport restaurant, Southern Grounds is making plans to bring its chef-driven coffee house concept to St. Augustine.
The Jacksonville-based coffee house plans to open at 124 King St. in a century-old building at the intersection of Riberia Street, anchored by Gringos Tacos, One Twenty Three Burger House and First United Methodist Church.
Southern Grounds owner Mark Janasik announced the expansion in an Aug. 1 social media post after receiving approval to build out the coffee shop.
“Cannot be more excited to make this announcement,” the post began. “We finally got approved to build a [Southern Grounds] coffee shop in this beautiful building …"
The restaurant would be the fifth for Southern Grounds, which debuted in Neptune Beach in early 2016 and expanded to San Marco in 2018 and Avondale in 2020.
In early 2022, the restaurant opened a 23-seat coffee shop in Concourse A at Jacksonville International Airport. And following a soft opening in mid-July, Southern Grounds will celebrate the grand opening of its second, larger restaurant – this one located before the TSA security screening area, making it available to all airport guests and employees – on Aug. 16. Both of those restaurants, like others at the airport, are run by restaurateur HMSHost.
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The 3,945-square-foot St. Augustine building was built around 1917, Janasik wrote in his post, and for decades was owned by the Catholic Church until its Catholic Daughters Club of St. Augustine sold the property in 2019, property records show.
Two years ago, Janasik and his partners were exploring opening a 50-seat Southern Grounds coffee shop and a new, full-service restaurant concept, Alder & Oak, featuring wood-fired cooking, small plates and Prohibition cocktails, in the former Corazon Cinema & Café at 36 Granada St., a few blocks away from the King Street site.
Instead, that space will become home to open a multi-concept, 200-plus-seat restaurant from Jacksonville landmark restaurant The French Pantry and Mount Pleasant, S.C.-based Vietnamese cuisine restaurant Little Miss Ha.
In addition to coffee and espresso drinks, Southern Grounds offers a breakfast menu of bagel and croissant sandwiches, omelettes, pancakes and toasts. For lunch or dinner, the menu includes Steak Frites, Shrimp & Grits, Korean Steak Bowl as well as tacos, burgers, sandwiches and more. The restaurant’s menu sources ingredients from local purveyors, whenever possible, and focuses on healthful and sustainable ingredients.
In May, Southern Grounds tapped Greg Delks, the former vice president of franchise development for Jacksonville-based Firehouse Subs, to develop and lead its franchise strategy as the restaurant seeks to expand to other Florida markets and nearby states, including Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Southern Grounds planning cafe in historic St. Augustine, Florida
