Business Spotlight: Urban Grounds serves up coffee, community

At Urban Grounds LLC in Ozark, an unlikely pair – coffee and plants – has been creating opportunities for unlikely connections to grow since its opening in August 2022.

The bright and airy space, brought to life with a wide selection of house plants, is a setting for everyday meetups over drinks and food of all kinds. Unlike traditional coffee shops, it offers the opportunity to purchase and pot plants, in addition to other gift items.

The shop also serves as a venue for events, often hosting local businesses and charities. Owner Callie Sitton says creating a gathering space for the community was part of her vision for Urban Grounds from the beginning – and watching that vision come to fruition is surreal.

“Seeing the community gather is always my biggest thing when I go to those events – when I can just take time to look and be like, ‘Oh wow, I created this space where people want to be,’” Sitton says.

Prior to opening the coffee shop, Sitton was in education for 13 years. Urban Grounds was born in her office at Parkview High School, where she was working as an A+ coordinator after a five-year stint as a teacher.

Sitton says the teachers and administrators who would mingle in her office casually dreamed about opening a coffee shop. Sitton had her own dreams of opening a plant shop. The unlikely coffee and plant combination came to life when Sitton wondered what would happen if she merged the two ideas.

After doing some research and discovering a couple of shops on the coasts of the United States that partially captured her vision, Sitton knew the Ozark community, where she grew up, needed a coffee and plant shop of its own.

“I just thought it would be something really cool and different to bring to the Ozark area,” Sitton says.

Sitton opened Urban Grounds with longtime friend Shai McCarty, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. She says the two decided to part ways in the venture, with Sitton becoming the sole owner.

Local flavor
Urban Grounds brings the local community together in more ways than one. Partnering with other businesses through its menu is one of those avenues.

Central to the menu is the coffee, which Sitton says generates the most business of anything offered. Selecting a coffee roaster involved lots of sampling with the teachers she previously worked with at Parkview. After some family members suggested trying Ozark Coffee Co. LLC in Sedalia, it didn’t take long to finalize the decision.

“Honestly it was the best out of all the [coffee] we had tried from all over the United States,” Sitton says.

Justin Koehn, co-owner of Ozark Coffee Co., says he worked with Sitton to create a custom coffee blend for Urban Grounds. The coffee roaster sources its coffee beans from small farms all over the world – including Ethiopia, Brazil, Guatemala and Rwanda.

After sending just three to four samples, Koehn says Urban Grounds landed on its signature blend. Flavor notes of the blend, sourced from both South America and Central America, include dark chocolate, caramel and stone fruits – with a light floral finish.

The custom blend is able to be customized through house-made syrups. Aside from pH Delight syrup, Sitton says all the syrups used are made at the shop.

“The cool thing about that is it gives creative liberty to create and do what we want with our menus,” Sitton says.

In addition, Urban Grounds doesn’t use dyes when crafting syrups. Instead, it substitutes natural ingredients – like spirulina, which can be used to create a blue color.

Savory items on the menu include toasties, paninis and a new protein bowl added in May.

Even Urban Grounds’ locally sourced bakery items capture the community-driven vision of the coffee shop. Allergen-free baked goods are supplied by Sensitively Sweet, based in Nixa. The Baker’s Pantry in Highlandville supplies the shop’s beloved cinnamon rolls, which Sitton says bring in lots of compliments.

“People will come in and be like, ‘I’ve been looking for an amazing cinnamon roll and this has got to be one of the best around,’” Sitton says.

Space to collaborate
Beyond the menu filled with locally sourced goods, Urban Grounds also partners with local businesses by hosting events.

The shop’s desire to help other businesses is one reason The 417 Female, a pelvic floor therapy practice in Ozark, was able to max out an event hosted at the coffee shop after being in business for only a year. The practice’s Galentine’s event in February 2024 focused on women’s wellness, drawing in 70 attendees. It brought in other local businesses, including Motherland Wellness and Closet Chic Boutique.

Ali Schermer, owner of The 417 Female, says Urban Grounds promoted the event on its own website.

“That’s one thing about the 417 area and really just our little corner in Ozark,” Schermer says. “I just feel like all of the women-owned businesses specifically are super supportive of one another and always willing to say yes to things. We all like to help each other out and promote each other’s businesses.”

The partnership between Urban Grounds and The 417 Female didn’t end there. In June 2024, the practice hosted a Ladies’ Night Out with Katrina Bogdon, a naturopathic doctor, at Urban Grounds. The event included a LaLa Links Jewelry pop-up shop.

The 417 Female returned the favor and hosted Urban Grounds, with coffee in tow, at its Galentine’s open house event this February. Most recently, the practice’s Coffee with a Doc event took place at the coffee shop in June, at which Schermer and Dr. Megan Rooney Thompson answered attendee questions over coffees and mocktails.

The uniqueness of a relationship in which two drastically different industries are able to collaborate is not lost on Schermer.

 “We’re pelvic floor physical therapy,” Schermer says, “so, you’d be like, ‘How does that work with a coffee shop?’”

For two years now, Sitton says Urban Grounds has also hosted the “Turn 417 Pink Soiree” to support Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Southwest Missouri. Businesses such as BigPxl, Retro Metro, Staxx, and Mitchum Jewelers have made donations to the event over the years.

“Anything to bring the community in, we always enjoy doing,” Sitton says.