New West Michigan Café Centers Indigenous Culture and Making Connections

A new café has opened in Shelbyville at 1148 129th Ave, near Gun Lake Casino, and it’s bringing something a little different to the West Michigan coffee experience.

Indigenous Roots Behind Sweetgrass Moon Café

Sweetgrass Moon Café is the latest venture for Gun Lake Investments, which is also part owner of the new Hot ’n Now in Wayland that’s been getting so much buzz. The café is rooted in the Gun Lake Tribe (Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi) and is built around coffee, food, and connection, with Indigenous culture and storytelling woven into the experience. The space includes both a drive-thru order window and an outdoor patio.

Seven Grandfather Teachings Featured in the Drive-Thru Experience

This shows up before you even reach the window. In the drive-thru, you pass a series of placards featuring the Seven Grandfather Teachings: Love, Truth, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility, and Wisdom.

Instead of just inching forward in line, it turns the wait into a quiet pause, something to read and take in before your order.

👇BELOW: MORE NEW WEST MICHIGAN RESTAURANTS TO DISCOVER👇

Wild Rice, Squash, and Elderberry: Ingredients Inspired by Tradition

Inside, the menu is wide-ranging. You’ll find the expected coffee shop basics like lattes, cappuccinos, cold brew, and espresso drinks, along with signature options like a Maple Cold Brew topped with cold foam, a Lavender Latte, and a Blueberry Pancake Latte. There are also chai drinks, matcha lattes, frappes, and a full lineup of teas.

Food goes beyond pastries and snacks, and it’s where some of those cultural influences come through most clearly. Ingredients like wild rice, squash, corn, and berries show up across the menu, all staples that have long been part of Indigenous food traditions in the region. One standout is the Chicken & Wild Rice Bowl made with roasted squash, corn, black beans, and sumac BBQ chicken. The menu also includes soups, salads with elderberry dressing, breakfast bagels, muffins, cookies, and donuts.

UP NEXT: West Michigan Gem Voted Among Best Waterfront Restaurants in America

Coffee sourcing is part of the bigger story too. Sweetgrass Moon Café partners with One Big Island In Space (OBIIS) to bring in farm-direct coffee through sustainable, direct trade relationships with family farmers.

The new coffee shop and restaurant is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.