ST. JOSEPH — At The Local Blend, drinks tell a local story, whether it’s honey sourced from a former employee, locally roasted coffee beans or baked goods made just miles away.
When you step inside The Local Blend in downtown St. Joseph, you’ll instantly smell the aromatic, rich coffee beans roasted by St. Cloud-based
You’ll also find a bakery case loaded with items from St. Cloud-based
and The Local Blend’s in-house kitchen and bakery.
Some of those partnerships were already established by the former owners of the business — then known as The Meeting Grounds — before Stacie Stone purchased the building and renamed it in 2008.
“We just kept using (those partnerships), just people in the community that I meet, or people who have worked here,” Stone said. “The person we use to get the honey from, she worked here. The people we get our syrup from are just right out on County Road 50.”
More than that, The Local Blend also elevates other local small businesses — such as humorous and thoughtful greeting cards from St. Joseph-based
handmade art from
a St. Joseph artist or artwork from local artists that hangs on the walls.
“We try to do everything as local as possible, that’s really important to us,” manager Astra Seitz said. “(Stacie Stone) lives her life by that model.”
By fostering those partnerships, The Local Blend has become a hub for the St. Joseph community and students from St. John’s University and St. Benedictine’s University.
“They all seem to be pretty appreciative of quality products like good coffee and good baked goods,” Stone said.
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The coffee shop’s partnership with Backwards Bread Co. goes back years to when the bakery was known as the Collegeville Artisan Bakery. Seitz said that partnership remains today with the bakery’s famous almond croissants, bread and bagels.
The Local Blend also prides itself on its in-house bakery.
Seitz said one of their items, round, shareable scones, has become popular after Stone introduced them to the business.
“They’re cut into pie-shaped pieces, so you can just pull them apart,” Seitz said. “People love them. That’s something new that we haven’t seen anywhere, so that’s pretty exciting.”
The Local Blend’s in-house bakery also makes cookies, muffins, quiche, soups, pizza crusts and crackers.
However, Seitz said the coffee shop’s bakery display has changed slightly in the past couple of years.
“Before the (COVID-19) pandemic, we had cakes along with our regular muffins and cookies and things. During the pandemic and since then, we’ve found success in selling our grab-and-go sandwiches, grab-and-go salads, quarts of soup, salad dressings, things like that,” Seitz said. “That’s probably the biggest change.”
The Local Blend has also tweaked its offerings by discontinuing its live music and open mic nights.
“COVID-19 kind of put an end to that,” Stone said. “And after that, we just couldn’t get the staffing to stay open till 10 p.m. Throughout history, it has just proven that not a lot of people want to go out and drink coffee at night and listen to music.”
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Recently, The Local Blend expanded to include a mobile coffee truck, which Stone said she found while scrolling through Facebook Marketplace.
It was something she had wanted to purchase for the shop since she bought the business in 2008.
Stone purchased the trailer, which debuted this year during Hutchinson’s Minnesota Garlic Festival in August.
“That is super fun because it allows me to get out and see, at least, the immediate area and maybe meet some new people and see what else is going on out there,” Stone said.
While the Jitterbug doesn’t offer a wide variety of flavors like the St. Joseph location does, Stone said she can make espresso drinks, chai tea, smoothies, hot chocolates and blended drinks.
As Stone looks ahead to The Local Blend’s future, she said she’s focused on increasing the number of events she attends with the Jitterbug.
There’s also more in store for the St. Joseph location, she said.
“We have more remodeling we have to do behind the bar, there’s always fixing and remodeling that needs to be done,” Stone said. “We still have to finish painting, new menu items, we want to work on the menu a lot this winter and come up with fun new sandwiches.”
Trent Abrego / St. Cloud LIVE