Cooked this morning
Bread, pastries and bowls are made in each cafe kitchen before we open.
A neighborhood cafe, run by the neighborhood.
Hungry Gorilla started as one cafe on South Congress in 2016. Today every cafe is owned by someone who lives nearby.
Our story
Maya Ortega opened the first Hungry Gorilla with a borrowed espresso machine and a catering order for a friend's wedding. The catering side grew faster than the cafe, and by 2019 the kitchen was feeding offices across Austin every weekday.
We began franchising in 2020 so that other owners could build the same kind of business in their own cities. Each cafe cooks from the same recipes and buys from local producers, and each owner decides how to serve their neighborhood.
Today: 8 cafes in 9 states.
Locally owned
Every cafe is run by an owner who lives in the community it serves.
On time, every time
Catering is planned with a named lead and delivered when we said it would be.
