PEABODY — A grand reopening will have to wait until later this month, but Northeast Arc’s Breaking Grounds Café is back open on Main Street, serving up coffee and pastries after a fire three months ago forced the café to shut its doors for most of the summer.
The café’s “soft opening” kicked off at 7 a.m. Wednesday, and Assistant Manager Kristen Martin, of Salem, said the coffee shop had seen a steady stream of customers throughout the day, including the return of many regulars.
“We missed them and I think they missed us too,” she said.
Inside Breaking Grounds, which provides employment training for people with disabilities or autism, returning customers and newcomers were greeted with new ceilings and floors, revamped seating, and new menu boards on Wednesday.
The May 10 fire never reached the café itself and was contained to a residential apartment in the building that houses Breaking Grounds. But, water damage from firefighting efforts essentially caved in the coffee shop’s ceiling and left officials with no choice but to shut the doors.
Martin said she was placed in a different program through Northeast Arc while the café was closed, but was excited to return to the fast-paced environment of Breaking Grounds.
“I feel like we were waiting for so long that we’re so pumped,” Martin said while making a coffee for an online order. “It’s going to be good to feel more a part of the community.”
As one of just two current employees who worked at Breaking Grounds before the fire, Martin said it was a reunion all day inside the café as regulars poured in. Customers praised the more comfortable seating and lamented the café’s time away, when they had to get their coffee fix elsewhere.
For Martin, too, having to sample other coffee shops left her longing for Breaking Grounds.
“We get most of our stuff local (and) make our syrups from scratch,” she said, explaining that coffee elsewhere felt overly sweet because of store-bought syrups.
Bruce Nelson, of Beverly, a self-described former regular who visits less often after moving away from Peabody, said it was nice to be back at Breaking Grounds, which he hailed for its “really good coffee” that is “pretty cheap” compared to other places on the North Shore.
Nelson said Breaking Grounds stands out because it combines a welcoming, communal atmosphere with ample seating.
“It’s usually one or the other,” he said, snacking on a muffin.
