Can a Coffee Shop in Utah Help Solve Underemployment for People with Disabilities?

Katie Holyfield and Taylor Matkins founded Lucky Ones Coffee in 2017, a coffee shop with a mission to create jobs in Park City, Utah, for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The company quickly earned strong support from the local community, and by early 2023, Holyfield and Matkins employed 17 people across two coffee shops. The two entrepreneurs must now decide how to grow their business to create more jobs and how to structure the business to ensure that it remains a sustainable and financially sound enterprise as it scales.

Harvard Business School professor Rick Ruback and one of the case’s co-developers Joe Higgins discuss the business case for hiring employees with disabilities, “Lucky Ones Coffee: Employing People with Disabilities.”