|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A prevalent Northeast coffee chain that “sees coffee differently” is opening its first Bay Area location in Palo Alto on April 8.
Founded in Manhattan in 2006 by Gregory Zamfotis, Gregorys now has 47 active stores nationwide, and an additional five on the way, including one coming to Stanford Shopping Center in a former Starbucks. And if you’re wondering about the lack of apostrophe in the name, it’s purposeful, said René Puerta, director of marketing for Gregorys Coffee.
“We take our coffee seriously but we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” Puerta said.
Fans of the coffee shop are known as “Gregulars,” and specialty drinks have punny names like “Hall & Oats,” “Fall Oat Boy” and “Purple Rain.”
“We like to have silly names and goofy stuff like that on our menu because we think it’s fun and part of our brand DNA,” Puerta said.
Gregorys Palo Alto will be the second Gregorys in California, with the first having opened in April in Orange County. Puerta said in comparison to Gregorys Northeast consumers, those in California are proving to be more afternoon driven, with higher demand for sweet items, lunch items and noncaffeinated beverages.
So how does Gregorys “see coffee differently”?
“A lot of specialty coffee comes with a lot of bells and whistles and a bit of a pretentious aura to it,” Puerta said. “We believe that we’ve been able to make specialty coffee accessible to anyone, whether you’re in a city, whether in the suburbs, whether you’re at a mall, and at an accessible price point.”
Gregorys roasts four days a week at its facility in Long Island City, and the majority of its beans are sourced from Brazil, Guatemala and other Central and South American countries. In addition to the standard coffee shop fair, find specialty drinks like the Fall Oat Boy (an oat milk latte with cinnamon, vanilla, maple syrup and hazelnut) and the Nu Brew (cold brew with Nutella and milk). Gregorys doesn’t charge for milk alternatives, offering oat and almond milk for no additional cost.
Gregorys also offers seasonal specialty drinks, with former spring offerings like the Blue Dream (an oat milk latte with blueberry syrup and butter pecan vegan cold foam), former fall offerings like the Banana Breeze (a latte with flavors of banana and butter rum, topped with vegan maple rum cold foam) and current winter offerings like the Biscotti Testarossa (a latte with flavors of hazelnut and almond, topped with orange mascarpone cold foam).
Besides typical breakfast offerings like egg bites, croissants, breakfast sandwiches and pastries, Gregorys has a wide selection of vegan options, inspired in part by Zamfotis becoming plant-based in 2017. The Vegan Deluxe includes vegan egg, Beyond sausage and vegan cheddar cheese on a vegan chia seed croissant, and there are vegan burritos, avocado toasts and multiple flavors of oats and pastries.
“The menu has always been, in some ways, a reflection of (Zamfotis’) taste,” Puerta said. “It’s like we make what we like, and we think you’ll like it too.”
Gregorys Coffee, 660 Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto; 877-357-4906, Instagram: @gregoryscoffee. Beginning April 8, open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday to Saturday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Dig into food news. Follow the Peninsula Foodist on Instagram and subscribe to the newsletter to get insights on the latest openings and closings, learn what the Foodist is excited about eating, read exclusive interviews and keep up on the trends affecting local restaurants.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect a new opening date, as provided by the Gregorys team.
