Lucky Ones Coffee: Employing People with Disabilities
Katie Holyfield and Taylor Matkins founded the The Lucky Ones Coffee in 2017 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 operated two coffee shops with 17 employees. The two entrepreneurs must now decide how to grow their business to create still more jobs, and how to structure the business to ensure that it remains a sustainable and financially-sound enterprise as it scales.
Lucky Ones Coffee: Employing People with Disabilities was honored with four awards at the 45th Annual Telly Awards in 2024:Â
Silver winner in the Social Issues non-broadcast categoryÂ
Bronze winner in the Education non-broadcast categoryÂ
Bronze winner in the Social Issues online category Â
Bronze winner in the Online Education categoryÂ
[Customers] get [that] the person behind the counter may have an intellectual disability and you just see humanity at its best.
Joe Higgins; Executive Fellow
Professors Richard Ruback and Robin Greenwood, along with Executive Fellow Joe Higgins, authored this case study to better understand the pervasive issues of unemployment and underemployment among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The case study examines how social attitudes and public policies have shaped widely held beliefs about the potential for people with these disabilities to perform meaningful work which also benefits their employer, and the ways in which the two cofounders of Lucky Ones Coffee are working to build a business that challenges these beliefs.Â
I think [this case] shows that if you are creative and thoughtful, you can make your business better and you can make the world better by reaching out to a different community for employees than you have before.
Richard S. Ruback; Baker Foundation Professor
Willard Prescott Smith Professor of Corporate Finance, Emeritus