Café Grumpy
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Coffee roasting and café |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Founder | Caroline Bell, Chris Timbrell |
| Headquarters | Brooklyn, New York City , United States |
Area served | New York City |
Key people | Caroline Bell, Chris Timbrell |
| Products | Coffee, baked goods |
Café Grumpy (also stylized as Cafe Grumpy) is a United States-based coffee roaster and café enterprise headquartered in Brooklyn, New York City. Established in 2005 by Caroline Bell and Chris Timbrell, the business grew from its initial Greenpoint storefront to multiple venues, including a café situated within Grand Central Terminal. The Greenpoint outlet was notably featured as a workplace setting in HBO's Girls.
History
Caroline Bell and Chris Timbrell launched Café Grumpy in 2005, opening its inaugural café in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint area. The brand name alludes to the mood before having coffee, while its emblem—a coffee bean with expressive eyes and eyebrows—was created by Bell’s brother, Andrew Bell, who founded Dead Zebra Inc.
During the early 2010s, Café Grumpy broadened its footprint across New York City by establishing new cafés on the Lower East Side in 2011 and Midtown/Times Square in 2013. In May 2014, the company inaugurated a location within Grand Central Terminal’s Lexington Passage, taking over from Starbucks as part of a movement favoring local businesses. Throughout the late 2010s into the early 2020s, Café Grumpy maintained growth despite obstacles posed by the pandemic.
Operations
The company conducts its coffee roasting operations in Brooklyn and had diversified by the early 2010s to include activities such as roasting, purchasing green coffee beans, and baking. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Café Grumpy pivoted its strategy toward retail and grocery distribution, achieving shelf space in retailers like Whole Foods Market.
Certain cafés restrict or prohibit Wi-Fi access and laptop use; co-founder Caroline Bell supports these measures to foster social interaction and enhance customer turnover rates.
Reception
In 2025, Food & Wine acknowledged New York City as a premier coffee destination in the United States, citing Café Grumpy among the city's distinguished coffee establishments.
In popular culture
Due to its location near Broadway Stages, the original Greenpoint café served as a filming site for HBO's Girls, portraying the fictional workplace of characters including Ray Ploshansky and Hannah Horvath. Other television series such as Blue Bloods, Lipstick Jungle, and The Black Donnellys have also utilized Café Grumpy as a filming location.