What started out as a coffee shop in Arvada has morphed into a company that Troy and Jen Smith say they hope will create jobs for veterans in Colorado Springs.
The Smiths weren’t ready to get out of the coffee business after closing their shop, iBean Cafe. So late last year, they launched iBean Coffee, which partners with schools, youth sports teams, soup kitchens and other organizations on their fundraising efforts.
“We had an incredible concept, fabulous coffee, but in a B location at best,” Jen Smith said of the shuttered shop. “We placed ourselves in a brand-new building that unfortunately remained empty.”
IBean now partners with community groups that sell the coffee, which is roasted in Aspen before it makes its way to Colorado Springs, where it is bagged by veterans, instead of by a machine like many companies use.
“We wanted to put people to work,” said Troy Smith, whose primary career is in real estate development. “We’re helping to empower some people that don’t otherwise have a lot of opportunity.”
IBean is partnering with Aspen Diversified Industries (ADI), a Colorado Springs-based social enterprise that serves disenfranchised and disabled people. As a social enterprise, ADI uses business practices to meet the needs of those it serves, said Jonathan Liebert, vice president of the nonprofit.
In addition to bagging coffee, ADI has contracts in food service, furniture service and assembly, and maintenance that provide jobs to the people it serves.
“I think we’re probably getting 200 to 300 people a year jobs,” Liebert said.
ADI serves about 2,000 people a year, providing services such as job training, GED testing, resume writing and mock interviews.
IBean’s fundraising program does not require any upfront costs. The company provides fundraisers with brochures and sales materials, and the fundraisers supply iBean with materials to create custom labels for veterans to place on the bags.
“We work with people, and if our labels are a little crooked, that’s OK with us,” Smith said. “But the people we work with are so proud that the labels are always razor-straight.”
At the end of the sale, the group sends total payment to iBean, keeping $3 for each 12-ounce bag of coffee sold. Bags sell for $12 to $12.50.
iBean’s most recent fundraising partner is LivLIFE Foundation in Roscoe, Ill., where the community is raising funds for medical research of Sasnfilippo syndrome.
Other groups iBean has teamed up with include Friends of Aquatics, a local Colorado Springs nonprofit raising money to keep city pools open, and the University of Illinois at Chicago cheerleading team.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
