Coffee roasting is big business for Metropolis Coffee Co., the largest speciality roaster in the state.
The work is done mostly by hand — giving the Avondale-based company the chance to provide jobs to adults with developmental disabilities.
The Aspire CoffeeWorks program at Metropolis has offered part-time work to disabled adults through the Hillside-based nonprofit Aspire.
The partnership isn’t just a great way to provide paid work to the program’s employees, managers say. It’s also a way to show businesses can succeed by employing people of all abilities, said Katie Filippini, director of Aspire CoffeeWorks.
About 78% of adults with disabilities were unemployed last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Aspire CoffeeWorks provides jobs to five adults in Metropolis’ roastery in an industrial area not far from the Chicago River.
The Aspire workers weigh beans, apply labels and seal bags near where the beans are roasted by Metropolis’ full-time employees, who churn out more than a million pounds of coffee a year.
“They work elbow to elbow with us,” Metropolis CEO Anne Djerai said.
All proceeds from CoffeeWorks sales go to Aspire, she said.
At the roastery on a recent morning, three of its employees packaged coffee and applied labels to the bags featuring photos of their own faces. The majority of their coffee is sold to downtown businesses for use in the office.
When the employees aren’t working at the roastery, they’re on sales calls as “brand ambassadors” or attending career training at Aspire’s headquarters in Hillside.
Part of the work is about training, but for others it’s a career opportunity.
One of the program’s standouts is Bridget Gholston, who began working in Aspire’s program 13 years ago and was later hired to work full time at Metropolis.
Gholston was in her office Wednesday morning printing labels. She didn’t see herself working in coffee when she started.
“I hated the smell of coffee,” she said. “It took me working here to understand the smell.”
Before her career in coffee, she cleaned buildings through an Aspire program. Working with coffee comes naturally now. She no longer notices the smell.
“I can probably do this in my sleep,” Gholston said.
Rene Ruano, an Aspire CoffeeWorks employee since 2019, enjoys the sense of community.
“The one thing I enjoy doing around here is working alongside a great group of friends,” he said.
The partnership began about 15 years ago when Aspire contacted local roasters with the CoffeeWorks idea, Filippini said. Aspire was seeking a partnership because entering the coffee roasting business alone is hard. The equipment is prohibitively expensive, Filippini said.
Metropolis co-owner Tony Dreyfuss was also seeking to “do something with people with disabilities because it’s near and dear to his heart,” Djerai said.
The partnership has remained strong. Since 2009, Metropolis has roasted 201,000 pounds of coffee for Aspire CoffeeWorks, Djerai said.
Besides selling coffee for a good cause, CoffeeWorks helps its business customers strengthen its diversity initiatives, Filippini said. It also gives them an opportunity to volunteer with Aspire and come to its yearly gala, which this year is honoring Metropolis for the coffee partnership.
CoffeeWorks targets a niche part of the coffee market, supplying downtown offices directly. When the pandemic lockdown in 2020 shifted work online and employees worked from home, Aspire’s sales plummeted 80%.
“Overnight our sales went down to almost zero,” Filippini said.
Sales have climbed back to nearly pre-pandemic levels as office occupancy rates have increased and Aspire honed its marketing pitch to other offices.
Aspire is looking to tap into the market of banking offices and developers, Filippini said. It’s also pivoted to selling gift boxes of coffee, which companies buy to give away at events or around holidays.
At its heart, Aspire CoffeeWorks “is an example to show the world how successful you can be when your nonprofit and business partner together,” Filippini said.
“It’s not just about jobs for people with disabilities,” she said, “it’s the whole workplace, the whole environment is really richer and better and stronger when everyone’s working together.”
