T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Grounded Owner Olivia Ogston, right, poses for a photo with her mother Kara Ogston, left, inside the new coffee and pastry shop at 36 W. Main St. on Monday afternoon.

From a young age, Olivia Ogston knew she had a talent for baking, and she quickly put it to good use — when she was just 13, she launched her own home-based bakery to make money so that her parents, Tom and Kara, would allow her to purchase a dog.

The Class of 2023 Marshalltown High School (MHS) graduate attended culinary school at Kirkwood Community College and spent the summer of 2025 studying abroad in Italy to fine tune her craft. Last August, she was working at Lillie Mae Chocolates when she connected with Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall about her desire to start her own business in the community, and the result is Grounded, the new coffee and pastry shop located downtown at 36 W. Main St. in the old Willard’s building.

Hall, in turn, connected Ogston with building owner Janelle Carter, who envisioned a coffee shop and bakery, and the rest is history. Along with the traditional coffees, espressos, and Americanos one typically expects when walking into a shop like Grounded, pastries such as scones (both sweet and savory), muffins and cinnamon rolls are Ogston’s specialty, and she hopes to add croissants to the menu sometime in the near future.

“I also have to realize I’m in America, in a small Iowa town, and people want things that are familiar. So I don’t feel like I can just totally reinvent the wheel, and then croissants, they’re a lot of work. They’re gonna be on the higher end of cost and time and all that, so (I’m) just trying to also keep what people actually want and they’re gonna spend their money on. Right now, it’s been cinnamon rolls,” she said.

So far, however, the scones have been a hit, and visitors have enjoyed the atmosphere and ample space the Grounded building provides for socializing and camaraderie. Ogston has enjoyed strong support from her family throughout the endeavor, and the shop has seen strong and steady business since its soft opening during the Holiday Stroll on Saturday, Nov. 22.

Grounded will be open every day but Sunday with an expanded menu coming soon.

“I’d like to expand in catering and even cold lunches. I’d like to eventually have warm lunches too,” she said. “There is some need for expansion before adding all of that.”

But for now, the 21-year-old is enjoying her new title as a small business owner on Marshalltown’s historic Main Street and hopes Grounded will bring much needed vibrancy to the downtown area.

“It’s pretty great,” Ogston said.

To learn more, follow Grounded on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581575135760 or on Instagram @groundedmtown. Ogston plans to be open from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays going forward.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255

or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.