Stomping Grounds Will Open in Downtown Gresham

A little while back I was in downtown Gresham and saw a sign displayed for a new cafe opening up on Main Street: Stomping Grounds. They currently have a cafe in Fairview and a drive thru stand by Gresham High School, so this will be their third location. I reached out to one of the owners, Chris Cutshall, to talk about the new location and here is what I learned.

A Brief Stomping Grounds Timeline

in 2012 they opened their first location, a cafe in Fairview, with the desire to provide a third place for the community paired with their love of coffee. Then in 2018 they opened the drive thru coffee stand on NE Division Street, just a few blocks from the high school.

Stomping Grounds is owned by Chris and Stacey Cutshall. Stacey, who went to school for business, has been involved with coffee for many years.

Why “Stomping Grounds”

Originally, they were going to call the business “Cafe Con Leche,” but in the end, “Stomping Grounds” won out. As I mentioned above, they wanted the cafe to be a kind of third place for people—their second home, AKA their “stomping grounds.” Plus there’s that play on the word—“grounds,” with coffee grounds.

“If you’ve been to our cafe, it says ‘This Is My Stomping Grounds,'” said Chris. “And people say to us that this is their place.”

The New Stomping Grounds Cafe in Gresham

Chris told me that this location is the former home to Cafe Delirium, which had been there for 22 years and closed unexpectedly last December. At the time, Cafe Delirium cited rising costs and ongoing financial challenges as part of the reason behind the closure.

So it’s very fitting to have another cafe open up in there. After the closure of Cafe Delirium, friends of the Cutshalls contacted them. “Within a day or two [of the closing], we had several friends who reached out to us saying that they’d closed,” explained Chris. “And that we should we should check it out. It kind of just fell in our laps, and the location was great. And it being a coffee shop before, people already think of it like that.”

And bonus for them: They have two other friends who own businesses downtown on the same strip. Their church is nearby, too. So, it is clear that they are invested in Gresham and its success.

The Stomping Grounds Space

When I looked at their Instagram for the Gresham location, I noticed that the space was very sparse. Colorful, but empty. I asked what their plans are for the interior.

First, they have a designer who is a close friend of theirs who has designed a number of things in their lives. “She designed our home,” Chris explained. “And she designed our kids’ school, our church, our other coffee shops—she has her fingerprints on basically every area of our life!”

They love her work, talent, and skill, so she is on board for this next project. He says the look and feel will be similar to their Stomping Grounds cafe in Fairview. And that, in a word, is “eclectic.” They are going to redo the floors, repaint the walls, and are rebuilding a new counter for the cafe.

“We Love People”

Rather than having a focused and narrow vision for the cafe, they hope to welcome all sorts of people and their needs—whether it’s a place to bring a date, a location for a community gathering, or a casual spot where you can relax. “We just love our community,” remarked Chris.

“We love people,” he added. “So we want to have as wide of a reach as possible. At our current spot, there’s been plenty of first dates—plenty of second and third dates, too! We hope that that would be the case for this one.

“We also love parents and kids coming to hang out. We love all ages of kids. There’s been lots of business meetings. Lots of students studying. So, we found that our reach is pretty wide. And I hope that it’s the same same thing where it’s really just a place for anybody to use it for whatever they want it to be.”

“But mostly, we love when people connect with others here,” he said. “And we want people to feel like they can come and hang, and be chill.”

Coffee, Tea, and Food

The Coffee

They use Sisters Coffee beans at the Fairview Stomping Grounds and that will continue at the Gresham cafe location. “Early on we went through probably about five different roasters that we really wanted to pursue, and Sisters rose to the top pretty quickly,” Chris explained. “We love their beans, love their vibe.”

He says their coffee is flexible—that it goes really well in a simple latte by itself, or with flavored drinks.

The Tea Drinks

Aside from coffee, they offer tea, matcha, and chai. The chai is very popular, and they are known for their chai drinks, including a vanilla chai and French toast chai. You can also get a matcha latte and some straight up teas like the Gorge Sunrise (A traditional English Breakfast blend) or Warm Hugs (chamomile and peppermint with cinnamon).

Their tea products come from Good Medicine Tea Company in Hood River.

No alcohol will be served at Stomping Grounds.

The Food

They are known for their housemade quiche (including a gluten-free option) and housemade scones. Gluten-free muffins are popular, as well. All of their baked goods are made in-house. They also have soup, sandwiches, wraps, oatmeal, egg bites, and breakfast sandwiches.

“I think the Stomping Grounds breakfast sandwich is our top seller for breakfast,” Chris said. This sandwich starts with a toasted cheddar bagel from nearby Jazzy Bagels, then they add sausage, egg, tomatoes, spinach and cream cheese.

When it comes to their menu, they will likely make some minor tweaks to it, with the goal of keeping things pretty much the same company-wide

Hours and Opening

Their cafe in Fairview is open 6am to 6pm on weekdays; on weekends they open at 7am and on Sunday they close at 5pm. The Gresham cafe will be pretty close to those hours, but may change by an hour or two. I’m sure they’ll figure out what works best after trying things at the new place, which is a different setup from their other locations.

“I have to get a bit better read on the community,” Chris said. “It’s different from our Fairview cafe, which is right off the highway—it’s got a ‘drive-to destination’ vibe. This new one’s going to be more like a downtown vibe, so you’re going to park and mostly stay for a while.” At this location, foot traffic will be more of a variable than at the other locations.

They are expecting to open post-Labor Day but would love to be open in late August. Only time will tell—and the schedule of contractors.

Passionate About People

I often like to ask people what they think sets them apart from the others in their field. “We really focus on a cup of coffee that meets every demand,” Chris explained. “There’s people who love their white chocolate mochas and their caramel mochas, and then there’s people who love their espresso and plain lattes. So we really try to have that reach where we make a great cup of coffee for whatever the need is.”

He continued, “Our mission statement is that we are passionate about coffee—but we are more passionate about people. So even though we love making good coffee and we take pride in what we do, we need to know that people are the thing that matters most in the world.”

He also mentioned their house baked goods and their love for people that makes them special.

Make a Difference Monday

He told me about one of their campaigns called “Make a Difference Monday.” On the third Monday of every month, they give away 25% to 30% of their sales to a nonprofit in the area that’s helping make a difference in people’s lives.

He said, “I have to put our money where our mouth is. All our staff are really big on taking care of each other while focusing on high quality products.”

Wishing Chris and Stacey and their team all the best for an earlier rather than later opening in downtown Gresham!

Stomping Grounds [projected opening September 2025]
308 N Main Avenue, Gresham
Stomping Grounds website | Instagram