Grindhouse Cafe in Whiting has been open since June 2020 and is owned by brother and sister duo Gabe Mauch and Kate Mauch-Sheehan. Grindhouse all started after Gabe Mauch and his sister graduated from culinary school. They both were big fans of coffee and they thought it would be the best fit for them.
“I've been passionate about coffee since the late 90s. When I was in high school I would go up to Chicago to go record shopping and then I would just go get coffee. I started exploring high-end coffee shops and I just fell in love with craft coffee. It's always been something I've been passionate about. My sister and I went to culinary school together, and back then my sister and I came up with the idea to make a coffee shop,” said Gabe Mauch.
When Grindhouse first opened Gabe Mauch and Kate had to come up with a plan to get their coffee. Some coffee shops roast their own coffee, some other shops get coffee from different roasters. Grindhouse gets their coffee from different local roaster hubs.
“Early on, my sister and I talked about whether we wanted to be a coffee roaster and a cafe. And we decided pretty early on that instead of roasting our own coffees, we would rather be a hub for other locally roasted coffees. As of right now, Grindhouse has one of the largest selections of locally roasted fresh coffee. Our main coffee roaster that we use is Metropolis out of Chicago,” said Gabe Mauch.
The origin of the name Grindhouse came from Gabe Mauch’s love of horror movies. Grindhouse has always been in the dream plan of Gabe Mauch and Kate Mauch-Sheehan, so finding a name was not hard for them at all.
“I've always been into old horror movies, so the name Grindhouse just made sense. My sister and I have been planning Grindhouse for seven or eight years and in 2011, my sister and I were working at a different coffee shop. We then decided to go to Coffee Fest, which is a big coffee trade show in Chicago. When we were there someone asked us what the name of our coffee shop was, and we hadn't really talked about it because we didn't have a coffee shop yet. We jokingly were like, 'well, let's do Grindhouse..' We were thinking that it was a good placeholder for the time being. Then one day we just agreed that Grindhouse is our name. This is who we are,” said Gabe Mauch.
Both Gabe Mauch and his sister love creating new flavors for drinks. One of their fall specials is an oak and sea salt latte. There are also many other drinks coming out for the fall season. -- they even have a drink with Dr. Pepper syrup mixed in. To try all of Grindhouse’s crazy drinks visit itsWhiting location at 1600 119th St, Whiting, IN 46394.
For more information on Grindhouse Cafe, visit grindhouse.cafe.
For more information on everything the City of Whiting has to offer, visit whitingindiana.com.