Peace Coffee is saying "peace out" to the coffeehouse business.
The Minneapolis-based roaster is not reopening its three stylish downtown Minneapolis coffee outposts. Two are located in the Capella Tower at 225 S. 6th St. (both opened in 2015), and the third, which debuted two years ago, is in AT&T Tower at 901 Marquette Av. All have been closed since the start of the pandemic in March.
It's a different story at the company's 10-year-old south Minneapolis shop (3262 Minnehaha Av. S.), which is getting a makeover.
Peace Coffee is teaming up with Wildflyer Coffee, a Minneapolis-based specialty coffee company that works to provide job stability to homeless youth and end youth homelessness.
The shop, which will be rebranded as Wildflyer Coffee, will reopen in December. It has been closed since the start of the pandemic in March.
"We are honored to partner with Wildflyer to give the business a stable home and to help it pursue its mission of employing homeless youth — especially as homelessness in this very vulnerable population continues to rise during the pandemic," said Peace Coffee CEO Lee Wallace in a statement.
Wildflyer Coffee executive director Carley Kammerer said that the shop will employ at least 20 young people on an annual basis.
"This work is especially important right now, in a year where we've received the most applications in our agency's history," she said in a statement. "The time is now to invest in our youth and we couldn't be happier to be doing it here, in this neighborhood, at this iconic coffee spot, with the backing of our friends at Peace Coffee."
Twenty-four year-old Peace Coffee roasts small-batch organic and fair trade coffees from farmer-owned cooperatives in eight countries in Central America, South America and Africa.
