Opening just before Folsom Street Fair in September 2009, Wicked Grounds was known for its strong coffee drinks and housemade soups and paninis served alongside a selection of S&M literature, bondage rope and studded gags. In 2019, the business expanded upstairs into a flourishing event space focused on BDSM education — including classes on navigating the community, doing kinky dating safely, overcoming shame, learning about consent and respecting other players — with classes regularly selling out. 

“It’s a very interesting situation because, in some ways, we’re going through a tale of two businesses,” Bilodeau told SFGATE over the phone, sitting in the middle of a garage sale of the business’s remaining furniture and cafe equipment. “Interestingly, our events business has outgrown our current space, and we don’t have enough room for the people who are interested. At the same time, a lot of the foot traffic in the neighborhood and office workers who wanted coffee and a place like ours to thrive — those people are working from home now. Relying on that foot traffic has not been working.”

As Wicked Grounds was forced to reduce its hours and menu offerings, it came down to a choice — to close the cafe in order to focus on its events. 

“We have to change the way we do things in order to do them better,” Bilodeau said. 

Owner Mir Bilodeau tests out an espresso machine at Wicked Grounds in 2013; interior and bar area at Wicked Grounds in San Francisco. (Photo By Mo Stoycoff/Ed U. Via Yelp)
Owner Mir Bilodeau tests out an espresso machine at Wicked Grounds in 2013; interior and bar area at Wicked Grounds in San Francisco. (Photo By Mo Stoycoff/Ed U. Via Yelp)

This wasn’t the first threat to the 18-and-over coffee shop’s existence. In 2011, Wicked Grounds’ original owners and founders, Rose White and Ryan Galiotto, closed up shop due to bankruptcy. The cafe reopened with the support of investors the following year, with Bilodeau becoming its sole owner in 2015. 

Another shutdown appeared imminent when Wicked Grounds announced it was going out of business due to more financial troubles in 2018, but a sufficient number of monthly pledges from Patreon subscribers buoyed the cafe until a lack of business due to the pandemic delivered the final blow. 

“It’s literally just been trying to find various ways to scramble for most of the past two years in ways that have been very stressful for and impacted everyone,” Bilodeau said. “Trying to bounce back from the post-lockdown period has been quite difficult, hard on my staff and tough on the community. It’s been hard to provide the level of service we wanted to while giving our education and events all the attention and commitment they deserve. I’m happy to see we’ll put our full focus there.”  

In the coming months, Wicked Grounds will focus on settling into a new office at Trellis, a coworking space at Sixth and Mission, where it plans to launch videos of some of the classes held there, in addition to recording more episodes of its podcast. In mid-April, Wicked Grounds’ staff of seven announced that they wanted to unionize, and they were recently recognized by the Teamsters, Bilodeau said. Upcoming events will be hosted by the Folsom Street Community Center and Sacred Muse in Oakland, with the next classes on the docket to be held at SoMa Second Saturdays, presented by the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, on Saturday, July 8. 

Though a new chapter was necessary for Wicked Grounds, Bilodeau said the clientele was what made it unique and believes they are integral in helping the organization move forward. 

“The people who ordered milkshakes in dog bowls in their full leather,” they said. “The people who made munches and parties and events. If there’s one thing I hope for, it’s that we’re going to be in multiple places. Let’s keep building who we are and get out there. I want lots of kink cafes, lots of queer cafes, lots of people out there doing their thing.”