Excellent coffee, at the most affordable prices.

The Grounded Collection coffee company was founded by Bianca Simpson and a friend, which she later purchased the friends shares and became 100% owner of the company. Her company believes in quality with integrity, and their aim is to make excellent coffee available in the most convenient way and at the most affordable prices. On the conversation we had with her we got to hear about where she comes from to how to get hold of her amazing coffee products.

Bianca, whose the phenomenal boss lady behind The Grounded Collection was born and bred in Evander Mpumalanga before relocating to Port Elizabeth with her parents when she was around a year old, and they are currently residing in the beautiful suburb of Broadwood in Port Elizabeth. She attended her grades at Westering high school and have completed several qualifications in Human Resources which allowed her to enjoy a successful 10 year career in the Recruitment industry. When Covid hit our town in 2020, a time came for her to ‘re-invent’ herself, with recruitment being an over saturated market with many people losing their incomes, so she needed to find a more sustainable way to provide for her family. "As Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world, and loving it myself was an opportunity that presented itself and which I decided to take", she added.

When did you start with TGC and, why the coffee business, also what stands about your coffee? “Having always been passionate about coffee, a search to see how coffee was brewed and enjoyed around the world began. We then stumbled across our hanging cup filters and thus The Grounded Collection was founded in December 2020. We had a very humble start with only one product entering the market and have since grown to now proudly having 12 products available. Our consistent endeavour to offer quality coffee is what makes us unique. Our choice to start our coffee trade with only Single Origin coffees allowed us to present to the market, a specialty coffee that was un-tampered with. We have since introduced our very own ‘house blend’ namely the Aterra Blend which has very quickly become a popular choice for our customers".

In starting to implement the idea of TGC, what were your challenges and how did you overcome them? “We faced many challenges when starting The Grounded Collection, we needed to partner with coffee specialist to ensure that our product would be of the highest quality, having come from a different industry with only the passion for coffee I knew I needed to learn and gain knowledge on the industry. When approaching retailers as a new business in the middle of a pandemic it was tough to gain their trust, however we were able to overcome these obstacles and have built great relationships with our stores. The community has really come together in supporting local businesses such as The Grounded Collection and due to the #supportlocal initiative we have been blessed to grow our stockist and make our products more accessible to people within South Africa and not just the Eastern Cape”.

Since you have commenced, please share the highlights of your coffee business thus far? “I would say our greatest highlight would be growing our product range to now include 12 products. We have also recently introduced a new service namely white labelling, which allows companies to re-brand our products as their own which has seen many companies reach out to us. We have also been very fortunate to participate in events and sponsorship campaigns such as the Mrs Port Elizabeth Pageant and Jenni Gaults climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to name a few. This exposure has really seen our brand awareness increase and our amazing coffees have become more available to consumers”.

Where can people get your coffee, what’s the price ranges? And any plans to get TGC to the retail stores soon? “Our full coffee range is available at selected Spar’s in Port Elizabeth and Despatch in addition to various smaller retailers in and around Port Elizabeth. To find a stockist consumers you may contact us either via WhatsApp on 079 610 5726 or by email on info@groundedcollection.co.za. Our products are also available on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Our coffees are reasonably priced and range between R27.00 to R100.00 – for more information please visit our social media pages”.

Lastly – when not focusing on TGC what else has your attention? “Apart from The Grounded Collection, I am a proud Mom of two wonderful children and my focus is on making memories and experiences with them. Our family are keen campers and regularly seek out adventure together”.

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