Bill and Josh Fankhauser are on double duty.

The father and son duo is not only running the Sacred Groundz Coffee truck in St. Charles, but it is also in charge of the new coffee shop at Grow2Gather in New Florence.

The new coffee shop opened on Oct. 27. It serves hot drinks such as coffee, hot tea and hot chocolate, cold drinks such as iced coffee, frozen lemonade and smoothies, plus chocolates, cakes and muffins. It also has a drive-thru.

Bill said business has been successful after four months.

“The community has been super supportive by coming out, using the drive-thru, coming inside and having biscuits and gravy, sitting down and having a good time,” he said.

Grow2Gather teamed up with Sacred Groundz, a non-profit organization from St. Charles, to add a coffee shop to the store. The Grow2Gather staff came up with the idea of having a coffee shop in June, when the Sacred Groundz Coffee truck came to Grow2Gather for a visit.

“I’m going to give a big shout out to Amy Johnson of Grow2Gather and DDAB (Developmental Disabilities Assistance Board) for all of their support and helping get all of this put together so we could get the coffee shop started,” Bill said. “They started thinking about it back in July when we were here for the (Montgomery County) Fair. It took a while, but we got everything together and were able to get all of the equipment in and get started. It’s super exciting. They’ve been fantastic in helping us get started.”

Grow2Gather raised funds for the new coffee shop by having a trivia night on Oct. 2 at the Jonesburg Community Building. The project of building the shop cost over $20,000.

“That was fantastic,” Bill said. “I think it was super successful. The community came out and supported their endeavor to start a coffee shop. With the money from that, we were able to get the equipment, put the windows in and get the new electric run and all kinds of different things to make this possible.”

Bill said the coffee shop had a strong turnout on its first day of business.

“When we came from a coffee truck to a coffee shop, it was quite different dealing with cash, which we have never really done before,” he said. “But the community came out. A lot of people came into the store, purchased their coffee and did their shopping around in the store. The marriage of our partnership works really well for all of us because their customers came in and got the coffee. We had our customers coming in and doing some shopping at their product as well. Our missions were right in line with each other because we were both looking to hire someone with disabilities. It was a perfect match in that respect.”

Bill said he and his son have been pretty busy since the coffee shop opened four months ago. They work in the coffee shop two days a week.

“It can get a little crazy when we get the truck busy in St. Charles and when the store is busy here,” Bill said. “We try to maintain the inventory in both places. Many days, Josh and I have to get up at 4 a.m. to run to St. Charles to work in the truck because we don’t have the staff there. We had days where we had to come in here that we’re not scheduled. But these guys take care of the shop when we’re gone. Grow2Gather steps up, coming in and making sure that the coffee shop is covered if our staff can’t be here.”

The coffee shop is open from 6 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m.-noon on Saturday. Bill said one of the shop’s goals for the next several months is to add more people to the staff.

“Right now, we have one person who typically runs the register,” Bill said. “I really would like to get it to where one person works the cash register, while one is making drinks in the back. Then, we just have our staff supporting them versus making drinks on their own separately. If we can get two of them in here by the end of the year, I think that will be fantastic.”