Just off Route 46 and a mile down from Willowbrook Mall, a strip of shops sits on Pompton Ave. From feminine aesthetics to nerdy collectibles to savory slices, Piazza Farnese serves as a nest of small businesses for the residents of Little Falls to flock to, located in the center of Lower Passaic County. It is here, nestled between bustling highways and hushed cliffs, where The Fine Grind houses hundreds of hungry cafe-goers every day.
With cozy indie music echoing off its warm umber walls, it’s easy to get lost in the homeyness of it all. The whirr of ground espresso hangs in the air while a line forms past the art gallery, muffling the voices of each tableside chat.
A true community has been forged here. When the coffee bar offers something new each day, such as trivia and open mic night, a tight-knit neighborhood of the TFG family naturally forms, fostering a cafe many call home.
And Rhonda Mallek has built this home from the ground up since 2005.
I spoke with the owner of The Fine Grind at her shop on Wednesday, March 12th, to gain
perspective on her path to a prosperous business. Becoming an entrepreneur typically takes years of planning, but according to Mallek, this life-changing decision was made purely on a whim– she never even had a previous interest in owning an establishment, let alone in the food industry.
After leaving her home of Westchester County in New York and settling in Woodland Park, she met her business partner Jon Mallek who introduced her to the charm of cafes. “Although I never really had an interest in food service, I did like the concept of coffee shops, and I think that’s what the appeal was.” Mallek’s friends and family came to realize her special interest in these shops and pushed her to pursue a business since while her partner was interested in the coffee, she wanted to know the industry secrets.
“I would go around, look at the products, how they ran things, you know? I’m lookin’ behind the counter, seeing how things work.” In 2004, The Fine Grind Coffee Company was up for sale for a low price; and Rhonda and Jon Mallek spontaneously took up their offer. Having previous experience in running a business as a trade show manager, Miss Mallek was ready to take on the challenge– however, that’s not to say there weren’t bumps along the way.
She expressed that while her business partner supports her, she is the main runner of The Fine Grind. The responsibilities can pile up, with Mallek stating, “I jumped over so many hurdles, COVID wasn’t even the worst of it. A landlord once tried to sue us and stop our operations completely.”
The incident, taking place about a decade ago, landed TFG in a courtroom fighting for their coffee bar. “We ended up overcoming it, but it was scary. There was a time when I really thought we were gonna lose. I thought we were done.”
But despite the hardships and struggles of cafe management, Mallek expressed immense gratitude for the support of her loyal customers. “I remember people signing petitions because they tried to close us down.” It’s no doubt that many have grown to love The Fine Grind over the last 20 years.
As it turns out, Mallek may owe the bulk of her triumph to a single billboard.
“I think we really started to take off with the billboard across Starbucks, right down here,” she claimed as she motioned toward the Passaic River, “it got so much attention. I mean, this was our definition of viral back in the day. We were on all the news stations, people came from all over to visit us.”
On top of local and national coverage, such as a New York Times article, The Fine Grind made international news, too. “We even got a small feature in Vogue France.”
The billboard, placed right across the corporation at Willowbrook Mall, read “We may not be BIG, but we’re not BITTER! We are your neighborhood coffee shop!” This bold defiance of big businesses gave Mallek her spotlight in 2007– and she hasn’t looked back since.
“I never thought, two decades later, this is what I’d still be doing. There’s so much to it: the coffee, the food, bookkeeping, marketing– but really, the biggest part of the business is the employees.” She advised aspiring cafe owners to rise to the challenge of managing people and work with them.
“You have to remember to not always look at it from your own point of view, like what’s best for the business, but also what’s best for your workers. It’s more about them than anything else.”
This focus on the people behind the scenes not only puts Mallek’s employees on center stage but her customers as well. “I could make this job a lot easier– you know, not doing the art shows, the events, the music, but that's the stuff that makes this exciting for me. That’s what puts that community together.”
Mallek asserted, “At the very beginning, I told myself, ‘I want a place that’s so cool that even if the coffee sucks, people will still love it.” After looking into the Little Falls family at The Fine Grind as I have, I’m sure many would argue she has achieved her goal with bountiful success.
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