Name of Business: Friday’s Grind
Location: Turlock Farmers Market every Friday at Broadway and Main Street; Phone ordering and delivery/pickup options available.
Hours of Operation: Turlock Farmers Market —8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays; Contact by phone or email for orders during the week.
Contact: (209) 277-8444; RTraut3@gmail.com
History of Business: Every Friday morning at the Turlock Certified Farmers’ Market, Turlock resident and business owner Robert Taut can be found setting up his booth, Friday’s Grind, where he prepares fresh, locally roasted artisan coffee for market shoppers.
Although this is Taut’s first season as a vendor at the Turlock Farmers’ Market, his interest in the weekly downtown market sparked upon moving to Turlock just two years ago from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
“When I moved to Turlock not too long ago, I didn’t know a lot of people at first. But then I started coming to the farmers market each week, and that quickly changed,” said Taut. “It’s a great way to meet new people. Everyone was so friendly and I began to see the amazing sense of community that Turlock has. I knew I wanted to be a part of it, and so I decided to become a vendor here at the market.”
Before the opening of Friday’s Grind, the art of roasting and brewing the perfect cup of coffee was merely a hobby for Taut. Although that pastime has since transformed into a small business, Taut continues working full time at a non-profit organization helping adults with learning disabilities.
“It’s been fun seeing my hobby turn into Friday’s Grind, because it has also allowed me to share with my customers at the market each week more information about the non-profit work I do full-time,” said Taut. “It’s a great organization helping adults with learning disabilities, so I try to get the word out as much as possible in case we could be helpful to them or somebody they know.”
Taut says the name “Friday’s Grind” reflects the freshness of his products, as he explained his process of roasting and grinding coffee each week for the Market.
“I’m working with a local roaster, and we roast the coffee beans on Wednesday each week, and then grind them on Thursday night or early Friday morning so that the coffee is as fresh as possible for the Farmers’ Market,” explained Taut. “There’s no shelf life on my products. With the process taking no more than two days, this is as fresh as it gets and people really notice what a difference that makes.”
At the Market, Taut can be found using the manual pour-over brewing technique — a drip method that many coffee connoisseurs have called the simplest and cleanest way to draw out a coffee’s best qualities. Realizing that not all of his customers use the same brewing method at home, Taut says that he often works with customers buying coffee beans on an individual basis to help them create the perfect Cup of Joe using their preferred brewing process.
“I always tell my customers that they can call me and tell me what type of brewing system they’re using at home, because how I grind the coffee depends on what type of machine it is or if they’re using a French press or the drip method,” said Taut. “When I know that, I will then grind the coffee to a certain consistency for that specific system for the perfect blend and to get the best flavor out of the coffee.”
Using beans primarily from South America, Friday’s Grind has a variety of dark roast coffee blends, with tangy, robust flavors that have customers lining up every Friday morning. In the near future, Taut plans to begin serving iced coffee at his booth each Friday, in addition to other expansion plans sprouting from his instant success at the market.
“It’s been very exciting. I’m working with a local restaurant that wants to serve my coffee as their house blend, and also sell the bags of coffee beans,” said Taut. “Business is getting better every week and I really thank the community and Farmers’ Market for all the support.”
Business Specialty: Artisan, Pour-Over Coffee; Dark roast coffee blends; freshly ground and locally sourced.
