Last Updated on January 29, 2023, 9:23 AM | Published: January 29, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY — It feels like there are a million coffee shops in the city now.
With the rise of work-from-home, the growth of “grind” culture, and the increasingly irregular hours that we all keep for work, OKC’s coffee intake has exploded, and that means the number of caffeine outlets around town has as well.
But while much of the local coffee scene has focused on perfecting their own flavorful spins on caffeinated classics and expanding the diversity and identity of the industry, there’s another operation that is using coffee to address a sad, but major, gap in the community.
“We employ adults with special needs” said Tim Herbel, founder and Executive Director of OKC based non-profit coffee chain Not Your Average Joe. “And we do that because 80% of them are unemployed after high school.”
Herbel and his team have taken the central mission of providing what he calls “meaningful employment” for special needs adults to major local success, winning grants, being invited to events and competitions, and opening five thriving locations with a sixth soon on the way.
“We provide the opportunity to be out in public, and more importantly, to make friends and to see what happens when people become friends,” Herbel said. “That’s what makes Not Your Average Joe so magical, really, is when that social engagement happens.”
Neurodiversity
The idea of “neurodiversity” among the staff is the guiding value of Not Your Average Joe.
“Our model is inclusionary,” Herbel explained. “So the idea is that if you come in and we have six people on staff, three of them would be neurotypical and three would be neurodiverse.”
At any one of the Metro’s Not Your Average Joe locations, you’ll be welcomed by a staff that may include those with Down’s Syndrome, Williams Syndrome, blindness, deafness, autism, and anything else that most workplaces would unfortunately and unduly see as a hurdle or a risk for their bottom line.
“When we hire an adult with special needs, we’ve hired someone most businesses overlook,” said Herbel. “But this is meaningful employment. So in other words, we don’t just hire you and put you in a janitor’s closet or something. We try to give you a customer-facing job that is really tailored to your talents.”
Creating a truly supportive, inclusive space not only for the differently abled and neurodiverse employees, but for customers of all kinds as well, has driven the brand’s success and local love, Herbel believes, much more than simple goodwill or charity.
“One customer at a time,” he said, “people become loyal to Not Your Average Joe obviously through a mission that matters, but also through our radical hospitality and our incredible product.”
Success and Expansion
Practically all industries have been hit hard by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, but none more visibly or concerningly than the restaurant service industry.
And yet, since opening their very first location in Midtown in 2019, Not Your Average Joe has seen rapid and continuing expansion, even throughout the worst of the pandemic years.
The brand has expanded to two more full-scale stores in Norman and Broken Arrow, two “satellite” locations inside the Homeland stores on NE 36th and on N. May Ave., and they’ve been invited to open a new location inside the downtown OKC Library next month.
They were even invited three separate times to cater the set of Sylvester Stallone’s “Tulsa King” in OKC.
“Obvious they would only have you once unless you were good,” Herbel said. “But you’re not going back a second time and you’re certainly not going back a third time unless you’re exceptional.”
Part of their success, of course, is because the shop’s foundational mission means hiring from an entirely different base than most other businesses, and most other service industry jobs especially, meaning that NYAJ has sidestepped the staffing shortages hindering many other businesses.
But while Herbel sees that element as a part of the brand’s resilience throughout these past four years, he knows that the best staff in the world can’t translate to success without a great product.
“I always tell people that you can talk smack if you live up to it,” he said, gushing over his team’s coffee-and-kitchen abilities. “We have a girl that is mostly nonverbal, but I promise she’s the avocado toast queen, and she’s amazing at salads, and I really do believe that our turkey club sandwich is the best in Oklahoma City.”
Brand Bias
“Most people know us for our mission and our vision,” Herbel told me. “But we do exceptional coffee, and most people maybe don’t know that.”
The friendship, camaraderie, and underlying ethos of the staff have all made waves and spread word of the important work that NYAJ does for special needs adults, but Herbel believes that the employees’ abilities and the strength of the coffee itself are what have brought the success.
“The manager of our Norman store is a child of deaf adults, which of course ties into our mission,” he explained, “but she’s going to qualifiers for the U.S. Barista Championship in Maryland, and in a blind cupping in Oklahoma City, the last two years that we hosted, we tied to U.S. roasting champion.”
Even with such success, however, Herbel admits that it can be difficult to break out of people’s perception of Not Your Average Joe as just a charity or an afterthought in the industry.
“In the open cupping at the same competitions, we weren’t even in the top ten,” he said, “because brand bias is real.”
“It takes a village”
Even with all the chain’s success, the nature of their mission means that they’re always looking for more help and more funding, which is why Herbel always directs people to the “donate now” button on the Not Your Average Joe website.
“We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit, so we’re not just here to make a buck. If we make more money, we open a new store,” Herbel explained. “We need more resources for adults with special needs in terms of things like transportation and employment,” he said. “The reason that 80% of adults with special needs are unemployed is because 80% of the resources go to ages younger than 21.”
But just pop into any of the NYAJ locations and you’ll see firsthand how important and refreshing it is to have that kind of diversity and real, positive encouragement in the community for a change.
“We’re here to make a difference in the world,” Herbel said, “but it takes a village.”
For more information about Not Your Average Joe coffee, including a full list of locations, ways to donate and get involved, and employment info, visit nyaj.coffee.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
