Bitty & Beau’s offers job opportunities for those with special needs, disabilities

A new business will soon bring popular coffee and job opportunities for those with special needs and disabilities to Homewood.

Bitty & Beau’s Coffee will open a location in Homewood this summer at the former Valley Cleaners location, 1625 Oxmoor Road. The North Carolina-based company offers jobs to those with special needs, meeting a need the owners, Amy and Ben Wright, had in the life of their own family. The couple has four children, including Lillie, who has autism, and Bitty and Beau, who both have Down syndrome.

Amy Wright said about 80% of people with disabilities are unemployed, and the couple did not want their children to join that statistic. So the couple opened their first coffee shop in Wilmington and the company now employs more than 400 people across its many locations.

“Every guest gets to see people with disabilities working,” Wright said.

Seeing the success of employing those with special needs or disabilities may spark a thought among those visiting on how they can be more inclusive in their business or organization, Wright said.

There has been an “outcry” for the coffee shop to come to other cities, Wright said. The shop is very family-friendly and there will be plenty of seating in the new Homewood location, both indoor and outdoor, she said.

“We’ve already felt such support in that community,” she said.

The coffee, which is roasted in Wilmington, has gained notoriety across the country and is the official coffee of the “Rachael Ray Show,” Wright said.

A coffee shop is a place to bring people together, and at Bitty & Beau’s, it serves as a place where people can understand and appreciate each other better, Wright said.

Wright anticipates hiring between 20 and 30 people with disabilities, who will be surprised with job offers, along with support staff to help them.

“It’s a pretty cool thing, considering many of these people have never interviewed [for a job] before,” she said.

There will be a hiring fair, which is open to anyone both with and without disabilities.

Wright said people with disabilities and special needs are often “undervalued and overlooked,” leading to them not being able to receive job offers.

“What we’re really trying to do is shift cultures,” she said.

While the Wrights could never open enough coffee shops to provide jobs to everyone in need, she said they hope to inspire others to step up and help.

The shop meets people where they are, providing accommodations as needed and training to help them grow, Wright said. The employees are “willing to learn, loyal and grateful” to have a job, she said. Consequently, there is a very low attrition rate, Wright said.

“That sense of gratitude is infectious,” Wright said.

The plan is for the shop to open in the summer, with Robb Crumpton of LIV Development serving as the local owner.

For more information, visit bittyandbeauscoffee.com.