At Lucky Ones Coffee, a small coffee shop located inside the public library in Park City, Utah, loyal customers regularly purchase coffee, tea and pastries from the company’s hardworking employees, all of whom have intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The business, which opened in 2018 and expanded in 2022 to a second location in nearby Kamas, could serve as a model for other companies, including organizations that avoid hiring people with disabilities, the School’s professor says of Harvard Business, Richard S. Ruback.
About 6.5 million people in the United States have intellectual disabilities such as autism and Down syndrome, but less than 23 percent of working-age women and men with disabilities were employed in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the USA. The unemployment rate among adults with disabilities in 2023 was 7 percent, more than twice the rate for people without disabilities.
Businesses, especially high-turnover ones, are missing out by failing to tap into this segment of the workforce, says Ruback, who worked on a recently released multimedia case study for Lucky Ones Coffee. The company’s 17 employees have intellectual and developmental disabilities, and the business has a waiting list of about 40 potential applicants, who are eager to step in when a position becomes available.
“People who hire people with disabilities have almost no turnover,” says Ruback. “We started the project by asking if businesses could provide employment opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities that were good for business and good for people. I think the answer is mostly ‘yes’.”
Ruback, a Baker Foundation Professor and Willard Prescott Smith Professor of Corporate Finance Emeritus, developed the case with Robin Greenwood, the George Gund Professor of Finance and Banking, as well as HBS Executive Fellow Joe Higgins, HBS multimedia producer Matt Preble, and HBS Creative Director Dave Habeeb.
Bringing light to ‘a mass disconnect’
Since 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act has prohibited companies from discriminating against people with disabilities and required employers to make reasonable accommodations for them. However, researchers note that many employers are reluctant to hire this population, in part because they are concerned about the cost of providing reasonable accommodations or because they fear they will face lawsuits if they terminate an employee.
“The employment of the community with special needs really does not receive attention. It’s a massive disconnect, and we wanted to shine a light on that,” says Higgins. He has a personal connection to the subject: his sister has Down syndrome, and he’s seen her thrive working in a laundromat, where she’s created a close relationship with her colleagues.
Lucky Ones Coffee founders Katie Holyfield and Taylor Matkins championed their purpose-based mission in their application for the library space. “We want to create fulfilling workplaces for individuals with disabilities, promoting acceptance, independence, and community inclusion,” the pair wrote in their proposal for Park City. Local officials ultimately chose their proposal over others developed by more experienced people and agreed to offer the space rent-free.
A purpose-driven business
In the multimedia case, barista Preslee Simmons explains how much working for Lucky Ones Coffee means to her: “Work makes me feel useful,” she says. “The customers are very kind to me and I feel cared for. It makes me so happy.”
Most small, independent coffee shops operate on tight margins, and Lucky Ones Coffee is no different, Ruback says. The business initially showed net profits in 2019 and 2020, but suffered losses following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and 2022. The two entrepreneurs have formed a non-profit organization called The Lucky Project, enabling them to accept donations and protect the brand’s intellectual property theirs.
While the founders are determined to ensure the company’s long-term success, the primary goal was never to make huge profits, but to make a meaningful contribution to the community, the researchers say.
“They really care about hiring people with disabilities,” says Ruback. “This is who they are and how they define their lives, and it’s inspiring to see. I wish we were all more like that.”
Creating new opportunities
Ruback says other businesses, including those considering hiring workers with intellectual disabilities, can learn some important lessons from Lucky Ones Coffee’s experience:
Pursue a personal mission
Holyfield and Matkins had extensive experience working with people with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities at the National Skills Center in Park City, where they started a job skills program for adults. This made employing people with disabilities a natural fit for their cafe. They named their company Lucky Ones to reflect how lucky they feel to work with the population.
Passion is an asset
Holyfield and Matkins built their pitch on inclusion and won over city officials who believed the proposal reflected their comprehensive vision for the city.
“I wasn’t sure they would have made a cup of coffee after talking to them, but they had a real heart for the neurodiversity community,” says Park Mayor Nann Worel on the occasion. She called the approval a leap of faith, noting that the city typically did not award contracts to inexperienced small business vendors.
“The really cool feature is that Katie and Taylor were incredibly inspiring. They jumped into it in a way that conveyed their entrepreneurial enthusiasm,” says Ruback.
Training is essential and pays dividends
Tthanks to their extensive experience working with people with disabilities, the pair knew how to train people for the right roles – even employees whose parents had never asked them to work in home kitchens out of fear that they don’t get hurt. The owners had high expectations for staff performance, so they worked closely with each employee to ensure the skills needed to do well. In turn, that meticulous training has paid off in terms of generating stronger employee engagement, Ruback says.
“If you match the person to the task, they are exceptional workers,” says Ruback. “They are loyal. They show up on time. They are careful. When they are taught a routine of how to do things cleanly and safely in a restaurant environment, they never fail to follow these safety procedures.
What is good for society can be good for business
“It’s all about impact, not just necessarily the P&L (profit and loss) of a company, which is very important, but the P&L of society: What are you doing to make your community a better place and to make an impact and still build a better business?” says Higgins.
These goals are not at odds, the researchers say. Businesses like Lucky Ones enjoy higher retention, better performance and more reliability — something other entrepreneurs and business owners should take note of, especially in industries struggling with high turnover, Ruback says.
“There’s a huge opportunity to explore whether you can use neurodiversity employees to solve some of your business problems,” he says.
