‘Enough coffee humans to go around’: When a beloved coffeehouse bit the dust, 2 new shops took its place

Provo • The fate of beloved Provo coffee shop and counterculture hub Rugged Grounds was sealed early in 2025 as the city cleared the way for the business’s demolition in favor of new apartments.

As the shop shuttered, owners Sadie Crowley, Skyler Saenz and Claire Buiatti split and went their separate ways. But they didn’t get far.

Crowley opened Moon Peak Coffeehouse in Provo’s historic Joaquin neighborhood, while Saenz and Buiatti opened a new Rugged Grounds less than a mile away. There’s no bad blood between them, they say; just a love of brewed beans.

Saenz said as he opened the doors to his new shop, customers came “flooding in.”

“Provo’s coffee culture is growing dramatically,” he said, “so there’s enough coffee humans to go around.”

Both spots retained the original shop’s patent coziness, with elements of Rugged Grounds 1.0 sprinkled across them.

Moon Peak

Crowley teamed up with previous Rugged Grounds employees Stacy Wilk and Monroe Matsen to open Moon Peak at 50 E. 500 North. The trio has given the coffeehouse a perfectly curated thrift shop feel.

“After working together for years,” Crowley said of the new partnership, “it was like, even though we were losing that [first shop], we were like, ‘We can keep each other.”

Visitors might recognize a few things inside and outside the new business — like the original coffeehouse’s iconic crescent moon sign.

There are odes to Rugged Grounds 1.0 throughout Moon Peak, from the letter sleeve where customers leave handwritten letters for one another, to mirrors, books and frames that made the move to the new digs. A portion of the original coffeehouse’s stage takes up the front left corner of the shop, and there’s even a small watercolor painting of the old shop sitting on the back windowsill.

The owners have added their own touches: comfy chairs and couches, rugs and curtains galore. The menus are hand drawn. The bathroom door is covered in a collage of art prints. The shop’s phone is a restored vintage landline.

Moon Peak, which opened Nov. 28, carries beans from two Beehive State coffee roasters: Utah County-based Incidental Coffee and Shooke Coffee from Torrey. All the shop’s syrups are made in-house with natural ingredients like muddled figs and roasted hazelnuts, and the menu has featured veggies from Crowley’s garden.

The owners want to curate a similar vibe to what was found at the old shop.

“It’s nice to have a space that’s our own and our own touch,” Wilk said, “and it’s nice to be able to connect with the community again in a different way.”

Rugged Grounds 2.0

At the new Rugged Grounds, 397 E. 200 North, patrons will notice a new compass logo that welcomes them into the shop, which opened Sept. 27.

“If you’re lost,” Saenz said, “you might find your way home.”

The new space is expansive, featuring different nooks and crannies with chairs, couches and stools. The shop has retained the industrial, reclaimed vibe from before, and stepping inside is like being transported to an old dive bar — a soundtrack of pool balls colliding fills your ears.

Part of that atmosphere is a credit to the reuse mentality Saenz, Buiatti, and their business partners Ron Saenz and Ennis McIntier have.

“Everything in here is from the old shop, from the tin ceilings to the wood floors to the grates on the walls,” Skyler Saenz said.

Visitors might recognize the large bookshelf or the spiral stairs that are hidden in a corner. Or maybe the neon pink coffee shop sign. The exposed wood on the ceiling, meanwhile, came from the side paneling of the original building.

Saenz and crew are also using the shop as an event space.

“One thing about coffee shops for me has always been the community, how to capture people and keep them there so they can meet friends, people [and] new love stories,” he said. “People come in, they get stuck playing pool, people watching; that’s been kind of the goal for the whole idea here.”

The shop roasts its own coffee, and Saenz is also experimenting with the new menu by working to add pastries. For the non-coffee-loving crowd — mostly Latter-day Saints — Rugged Grounds is putting mocktails on the menu.

“In the end, people just want to be a part of a community,” Saenz said. “Doesn’t matter if you drink coffee or not. We want you here.”