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Popular Triangle coffee shop is opening a new location in downtown Raleigh

News & Observer - 1/12/2022

Jan. 12—RALEIGH — 321 Coffee, a cafe and roaster that exclusively employs people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is opening a new storefront in downtown Raleigh.

The coffee shop and noshery will open in spring at 615 Hillsborough St., in the Bloc[83] courtyard, near Char-Grill. It will feature a full coffee menu with light food offerings and rotating specials.

321 — which won The News & Observer's Triangle Coffee Bracket in November — has run a modest operation at the Raleigh Farmers Market since 2019. Its owners, Lindsay Wrege and Michael Evans, started the company two years earlier with a mission to expand employment opportunities for people with IDDs.

The coffee shop's name, "321," refers to Down syndrome, which some of its employees have. The disorder is caused by a third copy of the 21st chromosome.

"Really what we stand for is lifting up individuals with disabilities and helping them be a recognized and valued part of the workforce," Wrege said. "So we're really proud of how we integrate people with different abilities into different parts of the operation and I think it's really going to show itself fully at the storefront."

The downtown shop will be 321's third location. The company plans to open its second in February as part of Pendo's new Raleigh high-rise, as the N&O reported. That coffee bar will only serve Pendo employees.

'More opportunities to get more people in'

321 Coffee employs about 30 members of the IDD community at its Farmers Market stall, but more than 50 are on a waiting list for future job opportunities. Wrege and Evans hope 321 can expand to employ them all.

"Our goal is that the storefront is open seven days a week for the majority of the day," Wrege said. "So there should be more opportunities to get more people in."

The company hopes to open another Triangle location in late summer, she added, and a dedicated roastery is in the works. 321 is also partnering with Oatly, a milk-substitute manufacturer, to secure an all-electric coffee truck.

"First and foremost our goal is to give current employees the hours that they want fully," Evans said. "But soon we hope to have the bandwidth to open up more opportunities."

Eventually, Wrege and Evans anticipate hiring more than 100 people with different abilities. But it will take similar effort from their peers in the business world to undo the inequitable hiring standards that have stymied the IDD community, they said.

"I think our goal is ultimately to do right by our staff and to help them reach their goals," Evans said. "For some that might be full time with 321. But for some it might be full time with a sports team, or in industry, or owning their own business. And so we hope that we can be the pipeline to help people reach their dreams."

With the added visibility of 321's new location, Wrege hopes the company's ideology will spread.

"It puts us in the heart of downtown and so many businesses," she said. "We think it might start a chain reaction."

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