Today we’d like to introduce you to Mallory Grauberger.
Hi Mallory, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a proud UCM Mule alumna, but my college journey actually started at Missouri State University in Springfield, MO. While I was there, I found a place that made a lasting impact on my life — Potter’s House, a cozy coffee shop right across from campus. It wasn’t just a coffee shop; it was a community. The older couple who ran it became like a second set of parents to us students. Potter’s House stayed open late — sometimes until midnight or 2 AM during finals week — and it quickly became a safe, welcoming place where we could gather, study, and build lifelong friendships.
When I transferred to UCM in Warrensburg, something felt missing. Everything in town closed by 2 PM, and the only place left to study was the campus library. It made it difficult to connect, build relationships, and find those late-night conversations and friendships I had cherished at Missouri State.
About five years after graduation, God began stirring something new in my heart — a vision for a coffee shop near campus that would be a home away from home for students. At the time, I had just had our second child and left my career in special education. While I didn’t know much about coffee, I did know that wherever I traveled, I was always drawn to small, local coffee shops.
That fall, I started prayer walking the campus and surrounding streets, asking God what this could look like. One day, I came upon 108 Broad Street — an old house right near campus. I snapped a picture and texted it to my husband, saying, “This is the house I want for a coffee shop.” Being the practical business-minded man he is, he told me to write a business plan. Keep in mind — I was a former special education teacher, not a business major. And that’s about where the conversation stopped… for a while.
Three years later, while on our anniversary trip, he asked what I wanted to do now that our two youngest kids would soon be in school full-time. Without hesitation, my answer was still coffee. That next week, we sat down with our pastor and his wife (who had recently started Coffee Sknobs in our town) and asked if we were crazy. They not only encouraged us but agreed to mentor and train me. Over the next year, I learned everything about running a coffee shop from them.
We began contacting homeowners near campus about potentially buying their houses. By September, the owner of 108 Broad Street — the very house I had photographed three years earlier — agreed to let us walk through it. It was everything we had envisioned. In a beautiful twist of timing, it was exactly three years to the day since I’d sent my husband that original photo.
We went under contract on October 1st and officially took possession on January 31st. The house needed a total rehab — new electrical, plumbing, roof, and interior updates. After months of hard work, and with the city’s approval of our rezoning application in April 2024, the old house was transformed.
Finally, on August 31st, 2024, we opened the doors of The Gathering Coffee House to the UCM campus and Warrensburg community. It’s a place designed to be a home away from home for students — open late, welcoming to all, and a space where people can build authentic community and grow in their faith. We serve around 7,000 students each month. every to go cup of coffee leave with a bible verse hand written on the cup.
With our prayer and praise board that is right as everyone orders. It has exploded with prayers and praised that this summer is getting turned into a whole wall. Each Saturday during the school there is a group of about 20 college students that meet at 8:30 am to pray over the prayers and praises on the board. It has been such as joy to see them grown and get to pray over all the new and old tags on the board.
God’s faithfulness through every step of this journey has been undeniable, and we can’t wait to see what stories are written within these walls in the years to come.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road — this journey has come with its fair share of obstacles. From the very beginning, one of the biggest challenges was simply finding a house near campus. At the time, no properties in the area were for sale. But God was faithful, and in what I like to call a “God wink,” we ended up with the exact house I had sent my husband a picture of years earlier.
After that, we faced the rezoning process with the city, which should have taken around 60 days. We started in October, and it wasn’t officially rezoned until April — a much longer process than we anticipated.
Then came navigating building codes and inspections during construction, which always come with their own set of surprises and adjustments.
And even after we opened our doors, one of our unexpected hurdles was that we did such a good job making the space feel like a home that students didn’t realize we were a coffee shop open to the public.
During our first months opened we learned of our youngest son have Apraxia of speech. Which is a motor speech disorder that affects a person’s ability to plan and coordinate the muscle movements necessary for speech. This added an element of adjusting our family’s way of how we functioned to adding extra therapies. We have the best God loving stuff and students that come in who have just loved on him and have learn his way of talking to help him better as well. it wasbeen amazing seeing how God has paved a way in this vision to love on our little boy as well.
Parking has also been a challenge, as is often the case with businesses near campus. We primarily have street parking, though we were able to secure three additional spots behind the building on the drive.
Through it all, God has continued to provide and guide us. Every obstacle came with its lessons, and each challenge helped shape The Gathering into what it is today.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a former special education teacher who took a leap of faith to follow a new calling. I now serve as the manager of The Gathering Coffee House, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. What makes The Gathering unique is that it’s not just a coffee shop — it’s a community ministry space, and my role involves leading both sides of that mission.
On the coffee shop side, I handle everything from hiring and training baristas to managing inventory, creating operational systems, developing seasonal menus, and overseeing marketing and social media. My goal is to create a welcoming, efficient environment where students and community members feel at home.
On the ministry side, I spend time mentoring students, planning activity nights, and booking our Friday night worship nights. Our activity nights offer fun, safe alternatives to the typical college social scene — things like pickle ball tournaments, pumpkin painting, game nights, or trivia evenings. It’s about building relationships and giving students a place to belong and grow in their faith.
What I’m most proud of is seeing how GOD has been at work in this little coffee house has become a home away from home for so many students, creating space for authentic connection, conversation, and community centered around Jesus. Its defiantly not something that we are doing but GOD is.
What sets us apart is that we’re intentionally positioned near campus, open late, and focused on ministering to college students through both everyday moments and meaningful gatherings — all under the roof of a cozy, welcoming coffee shop.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something most surprising to people would be that prior to opening The Gathering I knew nothing about coffee besides what tasted good.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://the-gathering-coffee-house.square.site/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_gathering_coffeehouse/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557978100378
