On a weekday morning, Rise Coffee & Tea hums with lively conversation in a Roswell strip mall. Customers sip lattes at wooden tables framed by sky-blue accents, and a display of mugs labeled with regulars’ names lines the wall. In addition to serving locally sourced coffee shop fare, Rise serves as a source for meaningful employment for adults with disabilities. It’s a mission that’s gaining momentum across metro Atlanta, where a growing number of cafes and bakeries are reshaping inclusive workplaces.
Rise and shops like it fill a gap for adults with uncertain employment opportunities. After they turn 22, adults with disabilities lose access to educational services offered through the public school system leaving parents to navigate limited (and sometimes costly) options like adult day programs and vocational training programs. Some adults receive funding through a Medicaid waiver — funding that’s become harder to obtain because of outsized demand.
“We saw the trend that parents were going to have to step up and make their own sort of industry, and that’s what most of these cafes have started,” said Sheryl Arno, executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Rise founder Nicole DeWard was inspired by her own daughter, Bekah DeWard, who has Down syndrome. DeWard opened Rise in 2019 in the same plaza as her two other businesses, Shine, a gym, and Bloom, a day program for adults with disabilities. Rise initially opened as a for-profit business, but transitioned into a nonprofit so they could fundraise to cover labor costs.
“We basically have double labor. We have the ‘ba-RISE-tas’ —that’s our adults with special needs — and they have a buddy or someone that works with them,” said Beth Moore, Rise’s executive director.
Rise’s baristas work two-hour shifts to ensure more adults with disabilities can get behind the counter. Scheduling isn’t easy; there’s a lot of personality juggling and everyone brings a different skill set to the table.
”It’s all the normal stuff in a normal job, but a little more heightened maybe,” said Moore.
There are design considerations when employing adults with disabilities, too. When Brightside Cafe, a coffee shop that also sells smoothies and breakfast bites, opened earlier this year in Buford, owners Jennifer Elinburg and Carrie Walton contended with a gravel parking lot that turned into a potholed mess when it rained. It also posed a problem for their employees in wheelchairs, so Elinburg and Walton successfully advocated for a paved lot.
“It’s just been the most enjoyable, exciting thing for a lot of our employees,” Walton said.
One employee in particular, Inga, was thrilled when it was finally paved.
“She flipped out. She’s like, ‘If it wasn’t for me loving this place, I wouldn’t be able to come here,’” said Elinburg. “It would actually hurt her for her to wheel across the gravel parking lot.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
In Buckhead, coffee shop Mend Coffee & Goods shows how accessibility can be beautiful. Owned by Katherine Wolf, who suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2008, and Jay Wolf, her husband, Mend serves coffee roasted by Bellwood and employs a staff with interabilities, meaning some with disabilities and some without, including a few who use wheelchairs.
Working with designer Margaret Roberts, the Wolfs created an inviting space with oak floors, spherical lighting fixtures and powder blue walls. Some of the accessibility features aren’t immediately obvious, like tables that swivel up and down for wheelchair users, and an adult changing table in the restroom.
“So often beauty and disability are not in the same sentence, or in the same space. It begins to feel like you’re not valuable enough, and it’s very utilitarian, medical or sterile even,” said Jay Wolf.
Other inclusive details include sound-dampening structures, multi-height counters and wide pathways throughout.
With limited resources for adults with disabilities, it’s no surprise that there’s more demand for these jobs than jobs themselves. This is certainly the case at Special Kneads and Treats, a Lawrenceville bakery that Michael and Tempa Kohler opened in 2014.
The couple’s son, Bradley, was born with fragile X syndrome, a genetic condition that causes developmental and cognitive disabilities. Michael Kohler discovered that even fewer opportunities exist for nonverbal adults with limited motor skills, and since Tempa Kohler was a lifelong baker and loved cake decorating, opening a bakery with Bradley made sense.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Special Kneads sells celebration cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes and cookies with the help of 40 employees; 34 are adults with disabilities.
“We try to involve special needs at every level, whether it’s just folding towels, stickering, bakery assistance, decorators or front counter help,” Michael Kohler said. “I have people who work two hours a week all the way up to 40 hours a week.”
Special Kneads has a waitlist of about 152 adults with disabilities hoping to work there. Some on the waitlist volunteer at the bakery to gain experience in a bustling setting.
Kohler hopes that other businesses can see the potential in hiring adults with disabilities.
“Tell me every job you do, and I’ll tell you at least five different jobs where I’m pretty sure I can get somebody in there with special needs, if you just think outside the box,” he said.
Natalie Fowler, who has cerebral palsy, found her job at Brightside Cafe through All In, an independent living community for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Fowler looks forward to her shifts at Brightside and also wishes more places would give adults with disabilities the opportunity to work.
“If there was one thing that I’ve learned through employment, it’s that everybody’s different and everybody’s unique and everybody needs an opportunity no matter what you can do,” Fowler said.
Besides employment opportunities, these jobs also help adults with disabilities connect with a community they may not access otherwise. Elinburg and Walton frequently explain Brightside Cafe’s mission to customers who then leave with a different understanding.
“We want (adults with disabilities) to get out into the community and be active participants in their community,” Walton added. “How do you do that? You bring the community here and then the community starts to include them as well.”
Credit: Credit : Bryan Johnson Studio
Credit: Credit : Bryan Johnson Studio
While these business owners hope that inclusion transcends their cafes, they also emphasize customers aren’t sacrificing quality in the name of benevolence. At Mend, guests enjoy pastries from Alon’s Bakery & Market and hearty sandwiches on sourdough alongside their espresso drinks.
Rise makes its pastries, like raspberry-white chocolate muffin tops, in-house and all of them are gluten-free. The fact that the coffee and pastries are delicious is one of the reasons Casey Hall was drawn to her role as Rise’s general manager.
“I really do think that we have a good product. The coffee’s great and the food is wonderful, so it’s not just about contributing to the community,” Hall said. “We’re actually creating an environment that people want to be at.”
CAFES WITH INTERABILITIES WORKFORCE
Brightside Cafe. In addition to coffee drinks made with beans roasted by Winder-based Night Sky, Brightside sells fruit smoothies in downtown Buford. 554 W. Main St., Buford. 678-765-0198, brightsidecafebuford.com.
Mend Coffee. Mend offers coffee drinks made with Bellwood beans and a range of bites from pastries made by Alon’s to cafe fare like sandwiches on sourdough. 3655 Roswell Road NE, Atlanta. 470-458-2158, mendcoffee.com.
Special Kneads and Treats. Sugar lovers can find cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes and more. 156 Scenic Highway S, Lawrenceville. 678-237-7147, specialkneadsandtreats.org.
Rise Coffee & Tea. Rise specializes in espresso drinks made with Woodstock Coffee Company beans and house-made, gluten-free treats. 4651 Sandy Plains Road, Roswell. 678-395-4709, rise-coffeetea.com.
Wonderfully Made. Wonderfully Made brings adults with disabilities together for a day program that incorporates exercise, games and cookie baking. Available in combinations like chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin, the cookies can be ordered online and picked up at Peachtree Church, 3434 Roswell Road NW, Atlanta. The funds go back into the program. wonderfullymadecommunity.org.
Sign up for the AJC Food and Dining Newsletter
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
