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With a mission to maximise flavour, while minimizing their impact on the environment, Ocean Grind gained many fans both locally and internationally for its dedication to the environment and obvious industry expertise.<\/p>\n
Mr Clatworthy said the idea for Ocean Grind came to him while backpacking with his wife over 15 years ago.<\/p>\n
“I was a civil engineer at the time and while backpacking, my wife and I came across this beautiful caf\u00e9 in Nicaragua who were roasting coffee beans with a popcorn popper.<\/p>\n
“I had always loved my coffee and watching others enjoy theirs, but the roasting here in Nicaragua really tweaked my interest.<\/p>\n
“When I got back, I started experimenting with a little K-Mart popcorn popper and tried my hand.<\/p>\n
“They went brown, but just tasted terrible!<\/p>\n
“Thereafter, I got a small electric roaster and then did a little course in Melbourne and just bit the bullet and bought my first 5 kilogram commercial roaster.<\/p>\n
“I was engineering by day and roasting at night and it all evolved from then on.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Months later, Mr Clatworthy was given a stall at the Torquay Farmers Market and soon after bought a small caravan to pop out in the Torquay industrial estate.<\/p>\n He hoped the area would begin to boom with shops and people, and luckily, he was right.<\/p>\n “I started at the odd market and then went from a small cart to a caravan and it kept getting bigger and bigger.<\/p>\n “I took Ocean Grind on full-time and gave away my engineering job to give it the effort it needed.<\/p>\n “I was delivering little bags of coffee beans to people’s letterboxes. It probably looked pretty dodgy.<\/p>\n “After honing my craft, we soon moved into the space we are in now, and for the first few months I just had the coffee machine at the doorway.<\/p>\n “More was to come, and we expanded the space, and added tables, local artworks, and the caf\u00e9 grew organically.<\/p>\n “There was Bunnings and us, but now it’s a full social hub which is terrific.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr Clatworthy said there are many elements which continue to be key to Ocean Grind’s success.<\/p>\n He lauded both his staff and the community for their eagerness to promote the mentality of “protecting the coastline” and being environmentally aware.<\/p>\n “Part of what we do is raise awareness of the oceans, we do beach clean ups and the big step we took in 2019 was ditching single use cups.<\/p>\n “We phased them out, and we were probably one of the first to do so in town.<\/p>\n “The staff were at the coalface of explaining this to the staff, and locals were super accommodating and happy to help with our environmental mission.<\/p>\n “I’m really stoked everyone adapted, and I wish more cafes would do the same to help.<\/p>\n “We are just consistent and true to our product and values.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/IMG_7699-scaled.jpg?_t=1701140869\")
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