Bitty & Beau’s is a coffee shop, community and human rights movement that was founded in 2016.
Starting with only 19 employees, Bitty & Beau’s now employs more than 400 individuals with disabilities across all of their locations. As described on their website, “Diversity isn’t just appreciated, it’s celebrated” at their shops.
The original Bitty & Beau’s opened in January of 2017 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Inspired by their own family with diverse disabilities, Amy and Ben Wright quit their jobs and started Bitty & Beau’s to motivate people to make a difference and change biases they may not even realize they hold toward people with disabilities. Of the Wrights’ four children, one has autism and two have Down syndrome. The cafe chain is named after their two children who have Down syndrome, Bitty and Beau.
One mission of the shop is to encourage people to be more inclusive of those with disabilities in their everyday lives. In an interview with CNBC, founder Amy Wright stated that the cafe is a place for others to start seeing people with disabilities “a little bit differently.”
In an interview with the Harvard Business Review Wright said, “One of the greatest obstacles [adults with disabilities] face is a lack of access to employment.” Bitty & Beau’s not only creates jobs for adults with disabilities, but it also demonstrates that people with disabilities are equally valuable and as capable as those without disabilities.
As the Wright children got older, the couple realized the extent to which people with disabilities are separated from mainstream society. The Wrights were interested in integrating people with disabilities into the communities that they are so often isolated from. Similarly, the Wrights are strong advocates for more people with disabilities to have wider access to job opportunities.
Currently, the cafe has 18 locations across 11 states. Social media has been an important source of exposure for Bitty & Beau’s locations across the country. Their online presence has been a large contributing factor in the expansion of the business, having accumulated over 183,00 followers on Instagram and over 215,000 followers on TikTok. Furthermore, the cafe has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, Good Morning America, People Magazine and more. In 2017, CNN named Amy Wright their Hero of the Year.
The Wrights have created a network of cafes that, according to CNBC, is “run almost entirely by people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.” Many reviews talk about the great service and concept and the “good feel” each cafe location has cultivated.
“Our kids motivated us to make a difference. We hope we can do the same for you,” the couple told the Harvard Business Review.
In a promotional video for the company’s new Washington location, Ben Wright said the cafe “need[s] a permanent presence in our nation’s capital.” As a result, a new Bitty & Beau’s opened in Georgetown in March 2022. The cafe offers a variety of hot & iced drinks, frappuccinos, smoothies and food.
“I think it’s just such an important reminder of how much that job means to them,” Amy Wright explained in an interview with CBS News. “It kind of helps you think about your own life and what we should all be grateful for.”
The Washington location is open from 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 9 a.m.–8 p.m. Friday to Sunday. Visit them online at @bittyandbeauscoffee and bittyandbeauscoffee.com.
