Solvang’s newest coffee spot is both a source of caffeination and congregation.
Repurposed from a local church’s social lounge, Holy Grounds Cafe and Coffee Shop celebrated its grand opening at the end of August, after a six-week period of remodeling.
One of the church’s deacons, Pam Gnekow, pitched the coffee shop idea to her peers in leadership earlier this summer. Originally, the plan was to see if any local coffee roasters were interested in renting the lounge—located only a scone’s throw away from the Santa Ynez Valley Presbyterian Church’s ministries and preschool.
“I just kept thinking, there’s got to be a better way,” said Gnekow, who eventually convinced the church’s board to let her start her own cafe—from the ground up, so to speak—instead.
“The Presbyterian is totally backing us 100 percent. They gave us this space, let us remodel it the way we wanted,” said Gnekow, who sought to transform the lounge into a “darling, little Seattle coffee house.”
Gnekow said it wouldn’t have been possible to remodel the lounge and bring it up to commercial standards without help from the church and volunteers from the community, who worked long days to make Holy Grounds a reality, she explained.
“I felt like I was killing everybody, I was afraid no one would speak to me,” Gnekow said. “We were working for hours and hours and hours.”
The team worked together with a charitable cause in mind, she explained, as the coffee shop was pitched as a new way to benefit the Meals on Wheels program at the Buellton Senior Center. Gnekow is the CEO of the Buellton program, which provides meals to both seniors and families in need throughout Santa Ynez Valley.
“Proceeds [from the coffee shop] go to the Meals on Wheels program, every bit of it. We pay our employees, and then everything else goes there,” Gnekow said.
Although the church’s original social lounge functioned as a casual spot for churchgoers to meet, eat, and drink, several updates were required to re-establish the space as a commercial coffee shop, including new flooring and plumbing.
While resurrecting the lounge, which remained mainly dormant over the past year and half due to the pandemic, Gnekow said she and her team had access to a variety of the church’s resources (chairs, tables, etc.) on-site—some of which only required a few touch-ups.
“We found these tables in some back closet and took them home, sanded them down, painted them,” said Gnekow, who’s been a member of the SYV Presbyterian Church for about two decades. She became one of its deacons about eight years ago.
Career-wise, Gnekow has a longtime background in the catering industry, but very little experience with coffee specifically, she explained, although she’s an avid black-coffee drinker.
“At some point [while preparing to open Holy Grounds] I realized I don’t know anything about coffee,” she revealed.
Enter baristas Barbara Meeks and Jennette Wolfe, the two employees you’re likely to find working behind Holy Grounds’ counter (occasionally joined by Connie Kruse, who drives down from Santa Maria to volunteer at the shop once a week).
Not only does this trio prepare a variety of hot, iced, and blended espresso and tea beverages at the cafe, they dish out several lunch items and desserts as well. Anyone familiar with Solvang’s Bulldog Cafe (now permanently closed), which Meeks owned and baked at for about a decade before retiring, might get deja vu upon trying some of Holy Grounds’ muffins, scones, and assorted pastries.
“All those baked goods—all the things she did there—she’s doing here,” Gnekow said of Meeks, who came out of retirement specifically to work at Holy Grounds.
Gnekow’s personal favorite from Holy Grounds’ dessert menu is Meeks’ raspberry white chocolate scone. Patrons will find cookies, cakes, and even doughnut holes on the menu as well.
As for lunch items, the coffee shop offers several kinds of croissant sandwiches and side salads. There’s also a rotating menu of special salads, depending on which day of the week you visit the shop.
There’s also a kids’ lunch combo, complete with a peanut butter sandwich, cheese stick, cookie, grapes, and juice, for $5.50. With the church’s preschool just around the corner, Gnekow said it was important to make Holy Grounds feel accessible to kids and parents alike.
“We have toys out there for kids to play with, train sets, all that kind of stuff,” said Gnekow, whose shop also offers free doughnut holes to students of the preschool.
Since the shop’s rural location on Alamo Pintado Road is a bit of a drive from downtown Solvang, many of Holy Grounds’ patrons are usually churchgoers or preschool parents. Starting the first week of October however, the coffee shop will be included on DoorDash, making the shop more accessible to city residents.
Regardless, the drive will pay off, Gnekow said.
“We’re a little out of the way, but we have tons of parking,” she said, “and sometimes, you just have to drive somewhere that’s really worth it, you know?”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood would never turn down a free doughnut hole. Send comments to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 7-14, 2021.
