Today marks a true Grand opening for the third and newest location of the popular Orange Cup line of coffee shops. Orange Cup On Grand opened to customers early Thursday morning at 2501 Grand Ave. in Galesburg.
Originally a gas station and most recently Grand Energy Drinks, the small building on Grand Avenue will feature a single-window drive-thru and serve Orange Cup’s wide variety of coffee drinks, OCNRG, teas, Italian sodas, and flavored lemonades, along with assorted food items like breakfast burritos, Black Market bagels, and baked goods from The Carriage House.
Hours at Orange Cup On Grand will be 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
‘A deal we couldn’t refuse’
“Basically the owner of the property (Peter Logan) said he would make us a deal we couldn’t refuse,” said Melany Baldwin, co-owner of the three Orange Cup locations with her husband Scott Baldwin.
Orange Cup On Grand features all new equipment, and the size of the building is actually larger than Orange Cup Java at 1426 N. Henderson St. Just last year, the Baldwins opened Orange Cup Side Hustle, featuring both dine-in service and a drive-thru at 2701 E. Main St. in Galesburg.
‘Let’s give them something to talk about.’ New coffee shop opens on East Main
Baldwin credits general manager Amanda Bauchman with creating the name of the newest Orange Cup shop.
“We can call it OCOG,” Melany said. “And if we ever have the idea of calling ourselves the OG, we can do so with meaning and purpose.”
The Baldwins researched traffic counts for the new location on Grand Avenue and said they are excited about the potential for customers in the area on Galesburg’s far southeast side of town. Melany noted according to statistics from the Illinois Department of Transportation, an average of 4,800 vehicles pass by 2501 Grand Ave. on a daily basis — almost three times the traffic (1,800) they see go by the Side Hustle on East Main Street. The Java Station on Henderson sees average traffic of 15,000 vehicles daily.
“We had people who told us we’re either geniuses or out of our minds to locate at the Side Hustle, and now we feel like geniuses. We believe Orange Cup on Grand can work out just like Side Hustle.” — Melany Baldwin
“Anyone from Knoxville that I’ve talked to lately is super excited to learn we are opening on Grand,” Bauchman said. “So we’ll have a lot of people coming from Knoxville to Galesburg for work. Then, there are some businesses on Grand that we hope to attract. Hopefully we can bring some new energy to that side of town.”
Melany added, “We had people who told us we’re either geniuses or out of our minds to locate at the Side Hustle, and now we feel like geniuses. We believe Orange Cup on Grand can work out just like Side Hustle.”
Baldwin said Orange Cup is in the process of training seven new employees to help fill the demand at all three of its locations — bringing the total number employees to around 47.
Orangecup.com will feature online ordering
Orange Cup also this week launched a new website with the recently acquired internet domain orangecup.com. Baldwin said the new website — under the direction of IT/Social Media Manager Sarah Dear (Scott’s daughter) — will offer the capability to order Orange Cup products online.
“We’re going to get our feet wet on online ordering and see what it looks like,” she said. “We like to have a personal relationship with our customers, so we’ve sort of resisted having any kind of online ordering, because we want our people to talk to people.
“But there’s a whole group of customers that we’re simply missing because we don’t offer online ordering.”
Now three stores strong, will this be the final venture for Orange Cup?
“With younger people like Amanda and other family members coming into the picture, I can see where Scott and I would be open to expansion,” Melany said. “But just like we’ve always done, it would have to be the right thing, and the right time.”