Off the Ground

NOW OPEN SUNDAYS!!! We've been working towards this moment for a while now. The last Sunday we opened our doors for normal service was March 15th 2020 - and a lot has changed since then! We'll be open on Sundays from 10am until 2.30pm with the kitchen closing at 2pm. We're not sure how it's going to go. Sundays pre-pandemic were our quietest days but we didn't have the food offering we have now. We've also confirmed our Easter opening times - open on Good Friday and Saturday but closed on Easter Sunday and Monday. All opening times online will be updated ASAP. And menus will FINALLY be available online over the next fortnight. Cheers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR Somehow this is our first post of the year! The truth is that running a hospitality business in 2026 is HARD and so is finding the time to post. In spite of us not being very active on social media, you’ve kept us super busy in the shop and that is so, so appreciated. It’s given us the opportunity to take our time planning and working on some details, which is very helpful. We’ve spent the last 18 months changing lots of little things to future-proof ourselves. I want to make sure we can handle the more and more people who want to come and visit us without it either taking too much of a toll on our excellent team or having any kind of negative impact on service or quality. I am guilty of sometimes being over-cautious with growing our business. I am acutely aware that you guys all work so hard for your money it just wouldn’t feel right to push hard for more customers if it meant our standards would slip. I know that, particularly at the moment, to justify spending money, things have to be REALLY special. And we’re working so hard every day to make sure that’s what we are. Coffee shops that are ordinary just won’t survive the current market conditions. I’m so excited for the year ahead because each week I get to witness us getting better and better first hand. I really hope you can see the progress we’ve made over the years and how hard we’re working to be at the top of our game. Soon we’ll have some exciting news on extending our opening hours which, hopefully, some of you will be very happy about. We’ll also have a few new menu items landing over the next 3-4 weeks as we finally get those weekday/weekend menu differences right. We’ve got so much stuff to share with you - I PROMISE I will post again very soon. Thanks for the support x

BIRRIA IS BACK You've been asking us for months, pretty incessantly, sometimes slightly aggressively... So we've given in! Now made with grass-fed chuck beef from @blocknbottle and using real arbol, ancho, guajillo and pasilla chillies. It'll be available every Friday and Saturday until Christmas (and if you buy enough of it, possibly in the New Year, too). Perfect weather for it if you ask me.

The salmon and eggs on an everything bagel from @offthegrounduk will change your life. [Source: me] Take this as your sign to visit this Middlesbrough gem this month! 📍 63 Grange Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 5AS #middlesbroughfood #middlesbrough #teesside #teessidefood #teessidefoodie #brunchislife #northeastfood #northeastfoodies #nefood #nefoodies #nebloggers

There is nothing better than going out with a friend who will order an extra dish and share it with you. I went out with that friend to @offthegrounduk where we ordered a bagel each and french toast to share. I had the Reuben bagel with salt beef brisket, cheese, sauerkraut, mustard mayo and picked cucumber. To share we had the apple pie French toast 🍎🍂 I enjoyed my bagel, but the star of the show was the French toast. The apple topping was perfectly spiced, the toast was deliciously sweet and the cream was perfect to cut through. I’d happily go back just for the toast. P.s it’s dog friendly, so you know Louie came along! 🐶 #middlesbrough #teesside #independentcafe #dogfriendly #dogfriendlyteesside

IT'S BACK The apples are ripe for picking at the moment so our famous miso apple crumble French Toast is back! It's not actually written on the menu today but if you ask for it at the till we'll sort it for you. Though we only have very limited amounts on this rainy day. Available every Saturday from now until the beginning of December (and I'll have edited the menu for next Saturday, too)!

⏰️ THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE We've had some really busy days recently. The first thing to say is a big thank you for supporting us day in, day out. It's really humbling to see so many of you come through our doors so often. The summer months (and November) are usually our quietest and it's been an unexpected surprise that it's been so busy. We are well aware that on a small number of occasions, service has been too slow. That's mainly because our systems and processes are not set up to deal with such a high volume of orders in such a short space of time (though there are other factors, too). Sales can also fluctuate by more than 80% from one day to the next at the moment without any real patterns, making staffing decisions challenging and catching our team off guard. Please know that we're doing everything we can behind the scenes to increase our capacity, from the training we are providing our staff to the cooking times of ingredients and from the way your orders are taken to the number of people on our team that we can call on. I am working so hard to make sure that every single experience in our shop is a positive one and your feedback is essential to making sure that this happens. If you do have a poor experience, I want to hear about it. My email address is [email protected] I'm also looking to recruit a diverse team of secret shoppers this Autumn. If this is something you might be interested in - please contact me on the above email address and I'll send you some information when I've finished putting it together. I've been debating with myself whether or not to post this because I didn't want it to scare anyone away. So if you were thinking of coming down, please don't let this stop you. It really isn't busy every day and we need all the help we can get! Thanks again, Josh x 📸 Lemon and blueberry blondies

🌱 A LITTLE (ISH) NOTE ON OUR JUICES 🌱 We understand that we have a responsibility to make sure everything you consume here is as minimally processed as possible, as ethically sourced as possible and the best quality we can get hold of. We are fully aware that if you're going to part with your cash, you need to feel like you're getting value for money and you aren't just eating and drinking the same stuff you are making for yourself at home. That principle applies to everything under our roof, including our soft drinks. Our juices are all organic, all super tasty and all really special (and all not from concentrate). 🍏 Our apple juice is made from heritage apple varieties all grown in Middlesbrough by the wonderful @larchfieldcommunity who offer adults with learning disabilities the opportunity to get involved in food and drink production. Martyn drops off our apple juice on his days off (cheers Martyn)! 🍐 Our pear juice comes from Oakwood Farm in Robertsbridge, Sussex. It's super sweet and delicious and the kids love it, especially with our heritage apple juice being maybe a little bit more tart than they're used to 🍊 Our orange juice comes to us from @ekolobio in Navarre in the North East of Spain via @organicnorthwholesale (who are really the best in the business). It's sweet, bright and juicy (yes, juicy) and goes down a treat with your coffee and eggs on a morning That's a longer post than I was intending but I at least hope it shows you how much care we take in our product sourcing 🫡 please excuse the naff photos, I wasn't expecting it to be dark outside in late May but hey ho, the plants need the rain x

AÇAI BOWL On the menu from today. We've been wanting to do this for AGES but have been spending our time carefully sourcing ingredients to make sure it's as fresh and gut-nourishing as possible. Our base is an organic, strained natural yoghurt base from @locharthurcamphillcommunity with açai, blue spirulina and slightly sweetened with honey from river bees at the Tees Barrage (thanks @sansebcoffee for these). Alongside that we've got organic oats from @pimhillfarm , cacao nibs, chia seeds, milled flaxseed, cashew butter and beautiful organic fruit including these stunning Valencia Ruby oranges from @gospacitrus . Super proud of this and really hope you like it. A vegan version with soya yoghurt will be available soon and it'll be available in relatively limited quantities this week as we get used to the prep and ordering. Perfect for this lovely week of weather we've apparently got coming up...

THIS SATURDAY EVENING We're so lucky to have all three of @jodienicholsonmusic @mikemckenzieonline and @georgeboomsma playing together this Saturday night. Gonna be a super chill way to spend your bank holiday weekend. The ticket link's in our bio. See you then!!

LIVE @ OTG We are absolutely BUZZING to announce a show we've got coming up a week on Saturday, 3rd May. @mikemckenzieonline @georgeboomsma @jodienicholsonmusic All at the top of their game, all are properly lovely people and we 're so lucky to have them all playing together. We can't wait for a night of excellent tunes and wholesome vibes. Some seating will be available but there's a limited amount so you'll have to get down early to grab yourself a seat. Tickets available in our bio with all the ticket money going to the artists. Can't wait!!!

🌱 WHOLESOME CONTENT 🌱 We were absolutely thrilled to be invited to the @acorndairy Spring Turnout this year. 🐄 This is the moment the cows are released into the fields (from their cushty sheds) until November. They were so grateful to be outside and it was genuinely such a pleasure to be there to experience it. 🥛 We've been using the organic milk, butter and double cream from Acorn in Darlington since we opened in 2017 and I honestly believe we wouldn't still be here if our customers couldn't taste the difference between this special milk and the stuff most people drink at home. Their specially crafted barista milk is unbelievably good. ✅️ A long standing, excellent and very much trusted supplier that we'll be using for as long as we're here. 🔊 The beautiful soundtrack to this video is @georgeboomsma who'll be playing in the shop on Saturday 3rd May. Tickets will be on sale very soon!