'We couldn't be more grateful': Grassroots expands with wellness cafe in Marshall

With snowflakes lightly falling Wednesday afternoon in downtown Marshall, Dr. Abby Sirovica took a moment to admire the standing room only crowd of colleagues and area business leaders gathered at the site of her latest business expansion.

A wave of gratitude, admittedly, was rolling over her.

"The way that Marshall steps in and supports is (like) none that I have ever, ever experienced," Sirovica told the crowd gathered inside Grassroots Cafe, formerly Outside the Box Wellness Cafe, at 136 W. Michigan Ave. "I’ve practiced around the United States and people don’t care the way that you guys care. … As a small business owner, that’s everything to us. We couldn’t be more grateful."

Wednesday's turnout embodied the relaxed, patient-first atmosphere Sirovica and her team have cultivated at Grassroots Family Chiropractic in Battle Creek, helping families, children and even pregnant moms on their individual wellness journeys since 2017.

Having grown consistently through word of mouth and eager to reach more people, Sirovica expanded the practice in mid-May, leasing a space at 115 S. Grand St. in Marshall. But from the outset, the goal was was always to find a more permanent home in the Marshall area.

Subsequent conversations this summer with Outside the Box founder Dr. Lori Zettell proved fruitful.

"We were being pulled in so many directions and began praying about our next steps and then without having it on the market, God brought just the perfect person who loved the heart of OBX and what we did," Zettell wrote in a Sept. 30 Facebook post explaining the transition. "(Abby) wanted to put her chiropractic office in the back, just like I had started out with my medical practice in the back of the cafe. After just one meeting, I knew this was the right person to take the cafe to the next level. I have no doubt that she will embrace the cafe and move it forward for this next part of its story."

Grassroots Cafe will essentially serve as a continuation of Outside the Box as it pertains to its wide array of healthy food offerings, including soups, customizable bowls, smoothies and baked goods.

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One noticeable difference, though, will be the coffee available to patrons at Grassroots. Sirovica is partnering with longtime friends and Cafe Rica owners Tristan and Jackson Bredehoft to serve their coffee on site.

"We’ve been besties for a long time," Sirovica said. "We’ve kind of gone through these growth things at the same time."

Sirovica insists that Grassroots Cafe will continue to be a dairy free and gluten free food destination, "we are just serving Cafe Rica coffee in it."

The Bredehofts, for their part, have heard customers' pleas to bring Cafe Rica to Marshall for years.

"Now we’re going to make all of those dreams come true," Tristan said with a smile.

"It’s awesome," Jackson added. "We’ve always kind of talked about how someday there’s probably going to be something we’re going to end up doing together and it’s really cool to see it come to fruition."

The back of the cafe, meanwhile, will encompass Grassroots' chiropractic practice, with multiple rooms for adjustments.

"We’re so excited to not only have Grassroots Chiropractic back here, but also to have Grassroots Cafe, to have accessibility to clean, healthy food to support our community," Sirovica said. "They built a wonderful foundation and we have every intention to keep that the same with gluten free, dairy free (offerings)."

Additionally, chiropractic clients may be referred to one of Grassroots' Battle Creek locations which also offer massage therapy, nutritional consultations and an infrared sauna.

Grassroots does not accept insurance, but instead offers patients a variety of membership options.

"We don’t work for an insurance company," Sirovica told the Enquirer previously. "We work directly for our patients and are able to make it really affordable and accessible for them."

A poster in the hallway of Grassroots Cafe details six reasons why children need to get chiropractic adjustments.

"I’m adjusting in here and I look out there and I see people stopping and reading that," Dr. Emily Endres explained Wednesday. The poster, among other informational materials inside the cafe, is just one of the ways people can learn more, and be exposed to, the benefits of chiropractic care.

"Moving over here, you just get to touch so many more lives," Endres said. "We have people coming through the cafe that we might not have ever seen or they might not have ever seen an adjustment."

The opportunity to build upon the foundation Outside the Box established in Marshall with the Grassroots platform is "indescribable," Endres said, adding the strong showing of support Wednesday merely demonstrates the strength of Grassroots' community.

"That just goes to show what our people truly mean to us," Endres said of Wednesday's turnout. "We’re not their doctors, we are their family that also happens to be able to take care of them and help them, whatever journey that they’re walking right now … We’re truly just surrounded by family, which is so cool."

For more information, visit grassrootsfamilywellness.com.

Contact reporter Greyson Steele at gsteele@battlecreekenquirer.com

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Grassroots Family Chiropractic expands with wellness cafe in Marshall