HOWELL – A new business in downtown Howell is trying to combine community gathering with coffee to create a local gathering place.
Good Sense Coffee will hold its grand opening celebration next week after owner Ian Boyle held a week-long soft open event. The longtime coffee roaster has owned several mobile Good Sense Coffee cafes since 2018 and regularly makes appearances at events such as weddings, graduations, concerts and youth soccer tournaments.
The 2,000-square-foot cafe is located at 102 E. Grand River Avenue, the intersection of Grand River and Michigan Avenue. This is the former location of Uptown Coffeehouse, which closed earlier this year.
The company will hold a grand opening ceremony with local business leaders at 3pm on Thursday, August 15. Live music is expected before and after as part of the “official” opening week.
Boyle is known for curating and roasting his own beans in-house and as part of his mobile trailer business. His new cafe will offer unique flavors, such as hot and cold lavender lattes. Boyle also plans to blend white and dark chocolate into milk for all mocha drinks and aims to offer flavor options without syrup.
Good Sense will “softly launch” some of its homemade, gluten-free baked goods over the next few weeks, including muffins, cookies, brownies, scones and more. Boyle expects the menu will eventually include cold deli sandwiches and smoothies made with 100 percent chopped real fruit.
“We really want to expand the menu and have a lot of ideas, but we’re going to take it slow,” Boyle said.
More: Good Sense Coffee plans to return to brick-and-mortar retail with the purchase of Uptown
This isn’t the first time Boyle has opened his own brick-and-mortar store. Good Sense opened in 2013 and roasts and sells beans wholesale and online. Before the pandemic, the company had a store in Genoa Township for a few years. Then it started mobile cafes and selling coffee at private events and farmers’ markets. Boyle’s wholesale business has grown as well.
However, Boyle misses his former cafe and the opportunity to be involved in the community. He hopes to invite live musicians and other events once the cafe is established.
“I just thought it would be great to have a community space where people could come together and share their lives with each other,” Boyle said. “We believe this location will bring in a lot of foot traffic, which was missing (at his previous cafe).”
Boyle plans to maintain the mobile cafe business, but may “limit” his mobile appearances for a period of time.
Subscribe: Get unlimited access to our local coverage
Future plans for the cafe include online ordering of drinks for pickup and a possible partnership with a branded delivery service such as Grubhub, Boyle said.
Above all, Boyle is interested in feedback from his customers. There is a “suggestion sheet” in the café where all ideas are taken into account.
“It’s your community, so we want to create a place where everyone in the community feels welcome,” Boyle said.
The Brighton resident says his family, including his wife Sarah, will also be a big part of the business.
“We want to give it a lively atmosphere,” he said.
Good Sense Coffee will be open six days a week at 6:30 a.m. and Sundays at 8 a.m. Boyle hopes to get a better sense of how long the cafe will be open each day after the first few months and potentially establish seasonal hours.
— M. Alan Scott is a freelance writer for The Livingston Daily. Contact the editor at [email protected].
