Feb. 9, 2022

The new owners of Kingbird Coffee Shop in Brandon are planning to add improvements and have started already with a case full of doughnuts.

The coffee shop on Splitrock Boulevard gets a delivery every morning from Flyboy Donuts. Customers also can buy a custom order online and pick them up the next day.

“Over the next year, there’s always going to be something new,” said Michael Gross, who bought the business with his wife, Jessica, from founders Billy and Ellison Cutrer.

But those changes will come slowly as they learn the business while keeping their full-time jobs – he has the Brandon-based Michael Gross Realty Group with Hegg Realtors and his wife works at the city’s post office.

They’re talking with the owners of Crawford’s Bar & Grill in Sioux Falls about providing sandwiches, soups and salads for lunch.

In addition to Flyboy Donuts, the coffee shop still serves scones and Black Hills Bagels.

“That’s one thing customers told us when we said we’re taking over: ‘We want you to keep the bagels.’”

Kingbird still gets its coffee beans from Duluth Coffee Co. in Duluth, Minnesota, but it will add Flyboy Coffee beans and K-cups. The Grosses also are working with Flyboy to create a signature Kingbird blend.

They’re planning to buy an ice cream machine at some point so the baristas can add ice cream-based smoothies to the drink menu.

The coffee shop has a loft, and the plan is to remodel that and open it to customers.

“We’ll have video games and different things for the kids, making it more of a community study room,” Gross said. “They can study, play games; it will be a safe place to hang out with their friends.”

Other plans to expand the coffee shop into a community gathering space include music and poetry readings and classes on hobbies like arranging flowers and painting home decor signs.

The key to keeping the coffee shop running with the couple’s full-time jobs is manager Kate Marselus, Gross said.

“The reason we made the final decision to purchase it was because of Kate,” he said. She moved here from the Seattle area, where she worked in the coffee industry for six years, and has been working at Kingbird for a couple of months.

“I’m swamped,” Gross said. “I’ve got a team, but we’re going 150 miles an hour every day.”

In addition to that, Gross has a side hobby of making spicy carrots that he sells – now through the coffee shop. He started six years ago, and last year, he sold over 4,000 jars at farmers markets.

Kingbird’s hours are 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday but will expand as more employees are hired.

“We’re working on that now,” he said. “If you’re looking for a job, we’re hiring.”