The York Coffee Roastery Offers Fresh Brews and Opportunities

(York, S.C.) - The York Coffee Roastery in York, South Carolina serves far more than just coffee. The non-profit organization, MaxAbilities opened the Roastery in August of 2018 to give applicants with intellectual disabilities, autism, and head and spinal cord injuries a chance at employment for the first time.

The coffee shop’s mission is to teach professional skills to disabled young adults who have limited job opportunities in the state of South Carolina.

“One of the things we noticed was our kids with certain disabilities graduated from high school, and if they don’t have some kind of adult funding service or source they go straight from high school to their couch,” said the executive director of MaxAbilities, Michelle Shaffer.

“I’ve worked in this field for 34 years, and there’s just a big hole in the service delivery system. We thought we should start our own business so we didn’t have to wait on state funding to provide the service to those young adults.”

The Roastery works with York Comprehensive High School and the Clover school district to hire students from 20 to 21 years of age.

“All of us, whether or not we have a disability, find the hardest part of getting your first job is getting your first job,” said Shaffer. “What we’re trying to do is give our employees work experience because then they have a reference on a resume.”

The shop roasts all coffee on site in four Sonofresco Fluid Bed roasters. Employees are trained to operate the machinery, but also build social skills interacting with customers.

“I loved coffee before MaxAbilities. My first cup of coffee was Folgers, and that’s where it all started,” said Nathaniel Keough, an employee at the York Coffee Roastery. “I’ve learned how to grind beans, how to manage time, and always keep my eyes on the clock, but I’ve also learned how to talk to people.”

The York Coffee Roastery hosts music events throughout the month that attract up to 60 people, teaching employees how to handle a crowd.

“We got a young lady who came to us last year, and she would not look at anybody. She would stand in the corner every day and just rock and you could see how uncomfortable she was,” said Shaffer. “We just looked at a picture last month on our Facebook page and she’s got this huge spontaneous grin and she’s looking at the camera. To me, that’s amazing progress.”

The Roastery’s team of six also helps package and ship bags of their coffee nationwide.

“We ship coffee to Nevada, California to Pennsylvania. We even have a guy who has a pedal bike that pulls a coffee cart and he sells our coffee in Pittsburgh,” said Krystal Stanek, the manager of the York Coffee Roastery.

“We’ve adapted our machinery so everyone can be a part of the roasting. For somebody that can’t read, it allows them to still be able to make a cup of coffee when measuring is a little too difficult. We try to make all of our machinery as safe as possible as far as spills and burns.”

The team at the Roastery hopes to inspire other employers in York county to reconsider their hiring process.

“Sometimes the solution to your problem is staring you right in the face; you’re just not comfortable with that face,” said Shaffer. “Our folks might need a little more assistance in the beginning, but once they have that job and understand what that job is and what is expected you will never find a better, more loyal employee in the world.”

The York Coffee Roastery is located at 132 Blackburn Street, York, South Carolina. Coffee selections can be viewed at: http://www.yorkcoffeeroastery.com/