GroundSwell Surf Cafe opens at Seabrook Beach: Healthy eats and yoga

SEABROOK — Sitting out on the patio behind the GroundSwell Surf Cafe on a sun-splashed June morning, the joint vision of Heather Fritz Silvia and Mel Fuller was almost palpable.

Secluded from bustling Ocean Boulevard behind them, only a solitary trail through the dune grass leading down to the beach at Seabrook Harbor was evident, with a small platoon of complimentary beach chairs stacked at the entrance and a smaller fleet of paddleboards out front.  A family of four wandered up to the takeout window and ordered assorted drinks and breakfast sandwiches before winding their way to the beach.

“It was always a dream of mine to open up a business that was very community-oriented,” said Silvia, who opened the original GroundSwell Surf Cafe on Salisbury Beach in 2015.

“We wanted it to be almost like a heartbeat within the community that would be welcoming to all ages and all groups of people.”

That heartbeat has extended to Seabrook, where Silvia partnered with North Hampton’s Mel Fuller last fall to open a second location at 210 Ocean Boulevard. This weekend, GroundSwell will host its grand kickoff with a ribbon cutting on Saturday, a jam-packed schedule of yoga and other fitness classes, and live acoustic music on Saturday morning from 9 to 11 a.m.

Fuller, who has served in the military for 26 years and also works for Boeing, first leased a small space in the current building that once served as the old Seabrook police station back in the fall of 2019. As other leaseholders faded away, she expanded her spacious Ride the Wave yoga studio and partnered with Silvia last April. After a major renovation, Fuller’s vision of a community-based hub that could offer a little something for everyone, including a myriad of fitness classes and paddleboard rentals, all complimented by a scenic backdrop and a wide array of healthy and tasty food and drinks, was realized.

“We purposely tried to make it so that if you're a grandparent on Seabrook Beach and your kids come to visit with your grandkids we can literally have something for all of them,” said Fuller. “There’s a little bit of everything here.”

It’s a page right out of the successful playbook Silvia, a 2005 Winnacunnet High School graduate, has been executing in Salisbury for nearly a decade.

“I think that is why we agreed that this would be such a good fit because both of our business models are so community-driven and oriented, it’s a perfect match,” Silvia enthused. “I think they were really complementary business models.”

Both Silvia and Fuller credit a strong “company culture” and stellar customer service as a key part of both shop’s success. The vast majority of the staff and instructors are locals who live just a short bike ride away, and most started as avid customers.

“I think between the two GroundSwells, I have about 18 sets of siblings who work here,” said Silvia, whose mom, Jeannie McGee, does all the baking for both shops.

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What’s on the menu at GroundSwell Surf Café?

Whether you are looking for a little pick-me-up like the local favorite Beachy Mocha, featuring expresso, chocolate and cinnamon, to a smoothie, or any one of GroundSwell’s delicious frappes, Silvia, who studied nutrition at the University of Vermont, and her staff have you covered.

But GroundSwell is far more than just a glorified smoothie stand. Silvia was one of the first to bring Acai bowls to the Seacoast back in 2015 and customers can choose from a wide variety of ingredients to make their own bowl at each location or opt for the overwhelming local favorite, “The Whole Shebang,” featuring granola, peanut butter, coconut, bananas, berries and drizzled honey.

There’s also a plentiful breakfast and regular sandwich board, baked goods, Belgian-style homemade waffles and, of course, three different bark bowls for your four-legged friends.

“We also have gluten-free and grain-free, so both locations are extremely allergy accommodating,” Silvia noted. “We use a really high caliber of coffee, and a lot of our vendors are local. We support local vendors as much as possible.”

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A wealth of fitness classes at GroundSwell and Ride the Wave

Yoga is not just confined to the spacious studio space at GroundSwell and Ride the Wave, which is accented by a colorful full wall mural by North Hampton Middle School art instructor Marsha Zavez. In the summer, yoga also takes place in the morning at sunrise across the street at Seabrook Beach, or on the sprawling deck at Ernie’s Seaside Restaurant, which is right behind the café and overlooking the harbor. The owners at Ernie’s allow Fuller and her team to use the deck before they open, and it serves as a shining example of the close symbiotic relationship that the café is forging with its neighbors.

“Our hope is that when people come to check us out and what we have going on, they’ll also discover places like the Tuna Striker or Ernie’s and realize that they don’t have to go over there to find great restaurants and shops,” said Fuller motioning to the nearby bridge which leads to Hampton Beach.

While yoga may highlight the offerings at GroundSwell and Ride the Wave in Seabrook, there's a lot more to choose from as well.

“Our yoga studio is not just yoga, which a lot of them are,” noted Fuller, who offers a 10-class pass as well as a single drop-in rate. “It’s yoga, barre, strength, boot camp, cycle and boxing, which we do throughout the week and the day.”

There’s also private lessons for all ages for those who prefer an individual setting. One of Fuller’s most consistent patrons is a 92-year-old, who has been making his way to classes for three years now.

“I always say that it’s all ages and all stages,” Fuller offered with a smile. “Our gentle yoga has some folks that are anywhere from 25 to 72.”

Both locations are extremely dog friendly, and there’s even a dog walking group, Walk the Wave, that meets regularly at the Seabrook location.

An avid paddleboarder who was actually married on a paddleboard just steps away from the cafe in Seabrook Harbor, Silvia says that there’s a winding and scenic 7-mile loop that paddleboarders can navigate easily in the quieter waters of the harbor and estuaries if they play the tide right. Paddleboards are available for rent by the hour at the shop.

Suffice it to say, the sight of a family of four grabbing a couple of boards and beach chairs and winding their way down that sandy path to the beach is one that both Fuller and Silvia relish.

“Heather and I are very much into having an amazing place for our little Seacoast area to come and get healthy and be outside,” summed up Fuller.

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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: GroundSwell Surf Cafe opens at Seabrook Beach NH