3 Stores, 2 founders, 1 mission. 321 Coffee is a chain of coffee shops founded in 2017, that employs special needs individuals to run their stores to help them improve their quality of life. Their goal is to employ special needs adults long-term allowing many of them to gain the jobs they once struggled to hold. The store’s management team decided on the name because it represents Down syndrome by the numbers 3, 2 and 1. This is because Down syndrome occurs when an individual has 3 copies of the 21 chromosome.
Unemployment for adults with intellectual disabilities is twice as high as for people without these disabilities. In many cases when adults with intellectual disabilities are employed they generally work part-time and make under half of the normal minimum wage. In this case, they can make as little as $3.34 an hour. The founder’s of 321 Coffee were determined to make a change allowing over fifty intellectually disabled adult employees to hold a full-time job. This allowed all her employees to live a more independent lifestyle. They are actively expanding and hiring more employees everyday hoping to make a difference for the special needs community.
In the store itself, 321 Coffee features two roasters that make coffee weekly in-house on their machine. The special thing about this is that this machine uses 80% less energy than a normal coffee machine. The shop uses sustainable products that feature the following on their label; “You’ll find fully compostable coffee pods, cups, lids, straws, etc. in our shops, along with our refillable growler program to reduce plastic waste.”
The store also sells their coffee online selling both coffee pods, grounds and beans in a bunch of flavors. They also have socks, t-shirts, mugs and many other merchandise on their website. 321 Coffee has a partnership with NC State University and sells custom NC State branded coffee. Many of the designs and branding are intentionally set up to look a certain way, each one representing a different intellectual disability. An example of this is the crazy sock, with its design appearing exactly how it sounds; crazy with a bunch of wild patterns and colors.
321 Coffee had a booth during an economics fair at NC State on Sept. 12. Their booth was described as a wholesome and energetic place that attracted many customers who visited. When speaking to Rene G, a worker at 321 Coffee, she mentioned how she loved to work at 321 Coffee and felt at home there. She was one of the most enthusiastic people and was described as a wonderful to talk to.
In an interview with the GHFalcon, Lindsay Wrege, co-founder of 321 Coffee, shared a story about what motivated her to start the business, saying “I met some girls with disabilities when I visited Green Hope Elementary a while back. I saw how awesome they were but how challenging it was for adults with disabilities to get jobs, so I wanted to change that.” Providing jobs for disabled adults gives them a chance to gain work experience, build their social skills and help them to fit into the community and be treated how they should be.
For Wrege, she mentions her favorite aspect of working at 321 Coffee, which is seeing the employees she hired learning new skills, becoming more confident and achieving their goals while working. When asked what an average day at 321 Coffee looks like, Wrege said “Every day is different. Sometimes I get to work with partners and come up with new ideas and figure out how to make it happen. Other days I help deliver inventory or pack coffee.”
She also touches on her excitement to expand the business. “Originally, 321 Coffee was found only in a few locations in the Raleigh area,” Wrege said. “But now you can find these shops in Whole Foods and Food Lions’ stores in the area.” She also voiced intentions to further expand the stores more in the future.
