After 10 Years and 500+ Employees with Disabilities, Bitty & Beau's Coffee Shares 5 Lessons on Disability Employment

Company founded to create opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities says a decade of experience has reinforced one simple truth: people rise when given the opportunity.

WILMINGTON, N.C., Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ten years ago, Amy and Ben Wright opened a small coffee shop in Wilmington, North Carolina, with 19 employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

They didn't have a blueprint for inclusive employment. They simply believed people with disabilities deserved the same opportunities to work, contribute and belong as everyone else.

A decade later, Bitty & Beau's Coffee has employed hundreds of people with disabilities and grown into a nationally recognized company and human rights movement. Today, that mission is carried into communities through both its coffee shops and mobile Coffee Cruisers.

Along the way, the Wrights have learned something they believe every employer in America should know:

Hiring people with disabilities is not charity. It's good business.

"For years, businesses have looked at people with disabilities and asked, 'What accommodations will we have to make?'" said Amy Wright, co-founder and CEO of Bitty & Beau's Coffee. "We think employers should be asking a different question: 'What are we missing by not having these people on our team?'"

At Bitty & Beau's Coffee, employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities work in highly visible, customer-facing roles—taking orders, preparing drinks, greeting customers, stocking merchandise and helping create the experience for which the company has become known.

Whether serving customers inside a coffee shop or from a Coffee Cruiser at a community event, the model is intentionally designed to put people with disabilities front and center.

"We wanted our employees front and center from the very beginning," Wright said. "You can talk about inclusion all day long, but there is something powerful that happens when two people who might never otherwise meet are standing across a counter from one another. Perceptions change."

After a decade of doing this work, the company says several lessons have become clear:

• High expectations matter. Employees with disabilities benefit from clear responsibilities, meaningful work and the expectation that they are capable of contributing.
• Different does not mean less. People may learn, communicate or perform a task differently while still being valuable members of a team.
• Customers respond to authentic inclusion. Creating a workplace where people of different abilities work alongside one another doesn't just affect employees—it changes the people they encounter.
• Employment changes more than a paycheck. A job can create confidence, relationships, independence, routine and a sense of purpose.
• Inclusion works best when it becomes ordinary. The ultimate goal isn't for employing people with disabilities to be remarkable. It's for it to become expected.

Today, more than 500 people with disabilities are employed throughout the Bitty & Beau's Coffee system, working in coffee shops and through the company's growing mobile Coffee Cruiser model.

But the Wrights believe their greatest impact may ultimately be measured by what happens beyond Bitty & Beau's Coffee.

"The dream was never that everyone with a disability would work at Bitty & Beau's Coffee," Wright said. "The dream is that one day every business will see what we see—that people with disabilities have enormous value to contribute. Every interaction is an opportunity to change someone's perspective. And when that person goes back to their own workplace, school or community and sees people with disabilities differently, that's how real change happens."

Ten years in, that remains the work.

One cup, one job and one changed perspective at a time.

About Bitty & Beau's Coffee

Founded in 2016 by Amy and Ben Wright, Bitty & Beau's Coffee is a human rights movement disguised as a coffee shop. The company is dedicated to changing the way people see people with intellectual and developmental disabilities by creating meaningful employment opportunities and fostering communities built on inclusion, belonging and human connection. Today, more than 500 people with disabilities are employed throughout the Bitty & Beau's Coffee system, with the mission reaching communities through both coffee shops and mobile Coffee Cruisers.

Learn more: https://www.bittyandbeauscoffee.com/

Find a Bitty & Beau's Coffee shop: https://www.bittyandbeauscoffee.com/locations/

Find a Coffee Cruiser: https://www.bittyandbeauscoffee.com/cruiser-locations/

Media Contact

Amy Wright
Co-Founder & CEO
Bitty & Beau's Coffee
[email protected]
www.bittyandbeauscoffee.com

SOURCE Bitty & Beau's Coffee