MADISON TOWNSHIP — Jessica Backensto greets each customer with a smile. She invites old and new friends to make themselves at home at the coffee bar or in her coffee shop’s lounge.
Backensto owns Pump & Grind at 1290 Park Ave. East and has been a DJ for 18 years as the owner of All Occasions DJ.
When her husband encouraged her to open a coffee shop, she wanted to make sure her love of music and art was represented in Pump & Grind too.
The shop’s name is a riff on the R. Kelly song “Bump n’ Grind.”
“I thought, ‘You pump syrups and you grind coffee,’ so that’s where the name came from,” Backensto said.
Local art hangs on the light blue walls, as do concert posters and paintings of musicians. Malabar Intermediate School teacher Tori Watkins has painted portraits of Phil Collins, James Taylor and Tupac Shakur on one of Pump & Grind’s walls.
Backensto said she hopes the wall can be a mural of different musicians important to her and her family. Collins is her mom’s favorite musician, Taylor is her dad’s favorite and “everyone loves Tupac.”
21 Pilots members Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun are some of her children’s favorite musicians, so they will be added to the wall, as will Dolly Parton.
Backensto and her husband, Adam Backensto, are renting the building, but she said the landlord has let them be creative with the space.
“When we got this building, it had been vacant for a long time,” Jessica Backensto said. “We worked on this building for two years. Everything is from the ground up. My husband has pretty much done everything himself.”
Jessica Backensto painted the walls and connected with Watkins for the mural wall. Adam Backensto built the coffee bar with repurposed wood, insulated the walls and redid the floors.
“The handiwork done in there was mostly me and several of my friends that were able to help,” he said.
Adam Backensto, an Army veteran, works at Hamm’s Drywall & Interiors. He said his favorite part of his work was the coffee bar.
“I love that counter,” he said. “I’m glad people are enjoying what I helped build. This is her dream, all I was there to do was make it come true.”
Jessica Backensto grew up in the Madison area and said she always liked food service. Her dad, Jim Heenan, owns Kelly’s Dairy Bar and Miniature Golf.
“We like people, it’s kind of what we do — music and people,” Backensto said.
Through the long nights of painting and renovations, Backensto said she sometimes felt like the business would never be ready.
“My family and friends, when I didn’t believe in myself, they believed in me,” she said. “It’s so incredible the people that have helped me. I just really feel like it’s meant to be.”
Backensto has 10 staff members at Pump & Grind and gets help from Heenan too. Heenan said his oldest daughter has helped him with Kelly’s, so he’s happy to return the favor.
“I get to talking more than I’m helping sometimes,” Heenan said. “I really enjoy her place — I think it’s a really laid-back kind of place and the people who have come in have been very nice.”
Heenan said he’s sure Backensto will find success with Pump & Grind because she gets along with everyone.
“I’m just so proud of her,” Heenan said. “I think I worry more about her than I worry about my own place, just because I want it to be good for her — she’s worked so hard.”
Pump & Grind carries beans from Goldberry Roasting Company in Ashland for most of its coffee drinks.
The seasonal drink is “wired pumpkin pie” made with light roast espresso, pumpkin pie syrup, vanilla and milk. Backensto said her personal favorite drink is a raspberry mocha, but she also likes the seasonal drinks.
Pump & Grind also has locally made pastries and doughnuts, which Backensto said are updated seasonally. She plans to add smoothies to the menu soon, and milkshakes in the summer.
Backensto still wants to repave the parking lot and is thinking about adding acoustic music nights to her schedule. She also has a collection of vintage records that regularly play in the coffee shop.
“It’s only been open a few days but it kind of feels like forever, because it feels like this is where I’m supposed to be after all these years of juggling 8 million different things,” Backensto said.
Backensto said her main goal for Pump & Grind is to build a welcoming space.
“More than anything, I want this to be a place that people can come and sit down and enjoy being with friends, or sitting here and finishing homework,” she said. “I just want it to be a place people love.”
Pump & Grind is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The store is located at 1290 Park Ave. East and can be reached at 419-775-7947 or on Facebook.
