At His Mentor’s Funeral, a Chance Encounter Helped Keep Grove Coffee Alive

Daniel Stidham was standing in line at a funeral, waiting to pay his respects to the family of a man who had become both a mentor and an early believer in his idea for a coffee shop.

Marty Ozinga III, the former CEO of Ozinga, had mentored Stidham as he began pursuing what would become Grove Coffee in Oak Lawn. Ozinga had also agreed to provide the fledgling business with a $100,000 loan on unusually favorable terms.

Then Ozinga died.

“I was in line waiting to pay respects to the children,” Stidham recalled.

Standing nearby was Owen Hulse IV of Seneca Petroleum. The two started talking.

Stidham told him about Grove Coffee and the financing Ozinga had planned to provide. Hulse offered to step in with financing of his own.

“He was saying, ‘You know what, maybe I can do $100,000, but I’ll invest $70,000,’” Stidham said. “This is just in a conversation in a line.”

Grove Coffee would still take years to become reality. Stidham said more than a dozen attempts to secure a location ultimately fell through before the shop opened in Oak Lawn in 2025.

But the encounter at Ozinga’s funeral offers an early glimpse of the philosophy Stidham would eventually build into the business itself.

He believes relationships can change the trajectory of a person’s life because they repeatedly changed his.

Grove Coffee founder Daniel Stidham, left, during construction of the Oak Lawn coffee shop. Stidham began pursuing the business in 2021 before Grove Coffee opened in 2025. Photo courtesy of Grove Coffee.

‘We’re Not Driven by Maximizing the Profit of the Owners’

Stidham moved to Oak Lawn in 2018 to serve as a pastor and noticed the community lacked the kind of local coffee shop he envisioned as a gathering place.

His mission for Grove Coffee is to “interrupt cycles of poverty, both relationally and financially.”

That includes supporting mentorship programs, paying employees as well as the business can sustain and designing the shop around human interaction.

Grove does not plan to add a drive-through, even though Stidham acknowledges one could generate more revenue. Its barista area extends into the shop rather than sitting entirely against a wall, intentionally putting employees closer to customers.

“We’re not driven by maximizing the profit of the owners, but maximizing the impact in the community,” Stidham said.

Mentorship is personal to Stidham.

After graduating college in 2011, he worked in banking, including corporate banking at JP Morgan. One of his mentors eventually challenged him to consider whether a lucrative career was really what he wanted.

The mentor warned Stidham about the “golden handcuffs” of becoming accustomed to a lifestyle that required his banking salary.

Stidham left banking and entered ministry in 2014.

“If I didn’t have someone older in my life that walked with me every week, that knew me deeply, I’m not sure that if a stranger could have told me that,” Stidham said.

Those meetings often happened at coffee shops at 6 a.m. before work.

That would soon become a theme for the shop itself.

Grove Coffee celebrates its opening in Oak Lawn after a four-year search for a location. The coffee shop was designed as a community gathering place centered on relationships and mentorship. Photo courtesy of Grove Coffee.

Grove Coffee now opens at 6 a.m.

“I want people to meet with mentors before work,” he said. “That was my life for over 10 years.”

Stidham began pursuing Grove Coffee in 2021.

Finding a home for it took four years.

He said numerous attempts to secure a location fell through before Grove finally opened in Oak Lawn in 2025.

“After four years, you start to question if this is actually going to happen,” Stidham said.

His investors stayed with him. Now, Stidham sees those failed attempts as leading Grove to a space better suited to its mission.

That mission extends to employees. Stidham pointed to Grove’s store manager as one example. After working at Starbucks and other hourly jobs, the current store manager joined Grove as a barista and progressed to shift lead, assistant manager and eventually store manager.

His next ambition is to become a district manager if Grove expands to enough locations to need one.

Grove Coffee takes shape in Oak Lawn ahead of its 2025 opening. Founder Daniel Stidham spent four years searching for a location after more than a dozen attempts to secure a space fell through. Photo courtesy of Grove Coffee.

SDA Helps Grove Grow

Stidham’s relationship with the Southland Development Authority (SDA) began through SDA Relationship Manager, Jamie Makuch. She repeatedly contacted him offering assistance.

Stidham admits he initially “ghosted” her.

She kept trying.

Today, he describes her as an “ideation factory” who has brought Grove ideas for marketing, events, outreach and social media.

Grove also received marketing assistance through the SDA, while Stidham attended the ACHIEVE Summit, where he learned more about financing options available to growing businesses and connected with other entrepreneurs.

He said the SDA’s promotion has translated directly into additional sales.

“I can tell you days where we make hundreds of dollars more because of their promotion,” Stidham said. “They’ve been invaluable.”

For Stidham, it is another example of the philosophy behind Grove Coffee working as intended.

Years earlier, Ozinga had encouraged Stidham to become a business owner for reasons that went beyond opening a coffee shop. Stidham said Ozinga believed owning a business would make him a better pastor by helping him understand what people experience Monday through Friday and bringing that perspective into his Sunday sermons.

“And that’s been true,” Stidham said. “That’s been very true. And he believed in me.”

“Grove Coffee only exists because other people who have believed in the vision have put real money on the line,” Stidham said.

About the Southland Development Authority

The Southland Development Authority, a not-for-profit economic development organization, is committed to driving equitable and sustainable economic growth in the South Suburbs of Chicago. Through innovative programs, strategic partnerships, and impactful direct investments, the SDA is building a vibrant, inclusive economy that drives wealth growth for individuals, businesses, and municipalities. Combined with the benefits of the South Suburban Land Bank and the Monarch Fund, the SDA serves as a model for regional development.