BUFFALO, N.Y. — There is a new coffee shop on Buffalo's East Side where it doesn't just serve the typical coffee and bagels, it serves the proceeds back into the community.
Three Stories Coffee Co. is a not-for-profit coffee company that aims to change Buffalo "one cup at a time." The coffee company is an extension of 716 Ministries and was established back in 2017.
Now, Three Stories Coffee is opening a full-service coffee shop and cafe in collaboration with Empire State Development and the Mosaic 659 Foundation. The shop, located at 1021 Broadway between Clark and Lombard streets, is taking over a newly renovated 3,000 square foot space and will be serving up coffee, tea, smoothies, lunch, breakfast and more.
According to Three Stories Coffee, the coffee shop reinvests 100% of the proceeds back in community programming to help vulnerable residents, and also provides opportunities for those in the neighborhood.
"The employees you see working behind me are part of our program," said Jeremy Hazelton, the executive director of 716 Ministries. "They're being developed and earning culinary credentials, customer service credentials, so they have transferrable skills.
"We teach people how to roast coffee, we teach people how to run their own shop. The long-term vision is that ultimately there's some business incubator activities that happen out of here, so if someone wants to come work for us and then open their own place, we want to be able to do that."
For more information about Three Stories Coffee, click here.
Hazelton added, “Three Stories represents the latest social enterprise of 716 Ministries, where each business that we start is about redefining the bottom line—creating access to programs and services that make a real difference in the communities we serve. We don’t hire people to sell coffee, we sell coffee to hire people.”