The Grounds opens new Wonka-esque locomotive-inspired coffee factory in Eveleigh

With Sydneysiders still purring over their new metro, a little-known train station in Eveleigh will join the party when it opens to the public on Wednesday, September 4. This engineering marvel doesn’t service any network; it has been painstakingly built from scratch inside The Grounds Coffee Factory, a new hospitality venue dishing up sensory design on steroids.

If the Alexandria original offered whimsy and a little magic with your macchiato, The Grounds’ latest venue has seemingly distilled Harry Potter with the collected works of Roald Dahl. A colourful and complex system transports coffee beans from one end of the sprawling space like something straight from the pages of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The factory’s caffeinated equivalent of Willy Wonka is found in The Grounds owner, inveterate creator Ramzey Choker.

Even its address, 2 Locomotive Street, Eveleigh, adds to the colourful narrative. Choker might have snared former Otto Ristorante and Cafe Sydney chef James Kidman for the start-up, but he wants to stay true to the building’s historic locomotive workshop heritage.

“This was the site of the cafeteria where they fed the railway workers, so we’re calling it a cafeteria [in honour of them] but also because we want to do simple but amazing food with great ingredients,” Choker says.

The project has pulled into The Grounds Coffee Factory four years behind schedule. Choker originally hoped, perhaps optimistically, to open in 2020. Then COVID hit, followed by a string of delays, including a problem with the complex chain system that shifts coffee beans from one end of the factory to the other as eye candy for its 150 eat-in customers. “We had to fly someone out from Chicago, then wait for them to manufacture new parts,” he says.

Choker also had to sit back and watch as other venues in the complex opened and closed, including chef Kylie Kwong’s Lucky Kwong restaurant and high-profile bar, RE. The seasoned operator remains optimistic about the precinct, maintaining the delay enabled him to better observe its customer base and fine-tune his product appropriately. He also says the project simply wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t started when he did.

“Fortunately, we’d locked in a lot of things pre-COVID,” he says. “With the way costs have gone up, there’s no way we’d have been able to do this today.” Choker sidesteps discussion on the project’s eventual price tag, with speculation it landed between $10–$20 million.

It’s easy to see where the money went. The coffee roaster at the back of the factory – under the direction of coffee director Nick Ferguson – is full of costly equipment, including a rare colour sorter that removes “defective” beans with an unacceptable hue.

Choker explains the existing coffee roasting side of the business underpins the new venue. The Grounds already wholesales its coffee to about 90 cafes and food-service businesses, so moving its factory into a retail setting will also allow it to expand into coffee tours and tastings.

Kidman enjoys the food brief and standards set by Choker and group executive chef, Paul McGrath. There’s no cutting corners, with fresh rather than tinned tuna used in a nicoise salad, and extra egg yolks and creme fraiche in scrambled eggs.

“There’s a bit of an Australian fleck – lamingtons with Davidson plum jam on the side,” Kidman says. The steak will sit on onion that isn’t caramelised, tapping the vibe of sporting club barbecues and Bunnings outings by deliberately offering onion where “some’s burnt, some still raw”.

Choker worked on his latest venue with long-time collaborators architecture and design shop ACME & Co, where his sister Caroline is a co-owner. He says they always set out to create an experience with longevity. “Everyone gets bored so quick, how do we keep longevity in what we do?”

The Grounds Coffee Factory also marks a return to the business’ roots. “The Grounds was started over a coffee with my old partner, Jack Hanna, a world latte barista champion. We’ve always been about coffee.”

Open daily 7am-4pm

2 Locomotive Street, Eveleigh, thegrounds.com.au/the-roastery