Sacred Grounds Café fosters community feel in downtown Edwardsville - The Edwardsville Intelligencer

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EDWARDSVILLE — It’s been a busy two weeks for Kate Baumgartner at Sacred Grounds Café.

In St. Louis-based Feast Magazine’s latest edition of the Readers’ Choice Awards, Edwardsville’s Sacred Grounds Café, located at 233 N Main St., was named the No. 1 coffee shop under the “dining” category.

Every Saturday, the Intelligencer publishes a “Local Spotlight” story focused on the people who work behind the scenes at local businesses in the Edwardsville area. To make a nomination, email Billy Woods at bwoods@edwpub.net.

Feast Magazine is an online publication that highlights restaurants and eateries around the St. Louis and Metro East area.

Baumgartner, the owner of Sacred Grounds Café, didn’t always think she’d be the owner of a coffee shop. She grew up in nearby Caseyville and graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a bachelor’s in creative writing and a master’s in software engineering.

She was working for a corporate insurance company writing software before she bought the shop location in early 2021.

“I was so unhappy,” Baumgartner said about her corporate job. “I was so unhappy. I was stuck at a desk. It was awful. I knew I wanted to get back into kitchens and get back to the service industry.”

'My inspiration'

Baumgartner bought the location from previous owner Jenn Courtney, who planned to close the location entirely. Courtney owned the coffee shop for 21 years prior to selling it to Baumgartner.

“It ended up working out,” Baumgartner said. “I bought this place and reopened in February of 2021.”

Baumgartner was no stranger to the coffee shop. During her time as a student at SIUE, Baumgartner was a frequent customer. She never thought she would eventually own Sacred Grounds Café.

“It was definitely my inspiration,” Baumgartner said. “I was about to open a food truck in northern Wisconsin. COVID changed the landscape of everything. Food trucks were getting quite a bit of foot traffic.

“This place was kind of the inspiration of if I’d ever move into a brick-and-mortar. It just seemed unfeasible and out of reach at that time. The fact that I ended up owning a brick-and-mortar while I was exploring food trucks — it was crazy how it worked out.”

Community focus

Now a resident of Edwardsville, Baumgartner uses the café as a way to be active in the community.

“I really try to put back in the community what it’s given me,” she said. “I do my own sourcing here locally.”

The coffee is local from St. Louis-based Mississippi Mud Coffee. Baumgartner also sources produce from local farmers and gets her eggs from Godfrey.

“I really try to give back to the community I love in and work in,” Baumgartner said.

As the owner of a coffee shop, Baumgartner knows how to separate her operation from Starbucks and other large corporations in the coffee world. Customers who walk into Sacred Grounds Café will walk into a dining room that is filled with art from local artists.

The dining room is one that is welcoming and filled with laughter from members of the local community, some of whom residents might not know and some of whom they do.

That’s the experience Baumgartner cherishes the most.

“That exposure and that closeness is really important,” Baumgartner said.

For more information about Sacred Grounds Café, visit its website.

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