On the day Gjergj Dollani closed Café Chocolat, the register rang up fifteen dollars. That was after three and a half years of sixteen-hour days, coverage in the Washington Post, the Guardian, Voice of America, and the Times of India, and visits from governors and foreign officials. Grounds is Dollani's account of what it actually costs to build and lose a small business, in the tradition of Kitchen Confidential, Shoe Dog, and Setting the Table.
Before the shop, Dollani was a brand marketer at Lindt and Barry Callebaut. He walked into a basement chocolate shop on Adams Morgan on an evening stroll with his wife which led to his decision to follow his passion. What follows is four years of pulling shots, earning suppliers' trust, building a staff, and running numbers that never worked the way the spreadsheet said they would.
Dollani hosts Ristretto Time, a podcast for aspiring and current coffee shop owners with 45,000+ downloads, giving Grounds a built-in readership already asking the question this book answers. Café Chocolat closed. He still believes it was worth it. The book doesn't resolve that. It sits inside it.