Brewed with Autonomy: McLeod’s Coffee House Creates Opportunities for Lexington’s Special Needs Community

A polaroid scan of Brewster McLeod and Shelby Grow in front of McLeod’s Coffee House in Lexington, Kentucky on Thursday, August 22nd, 2024. Photo by Siler Bargo | Staff

The air smells of freshly roasted espresso and the entrancing hiss of a milk steamer echoes throughout McLeod’s Coffee House, which has found a way to offer a unique experience for the typical coffee enthusiast.

A customer may notice the workers taking their order, brewing their coffee and curating the coffee house experience, may be differently abled from themselves.

McLeod’s is a non-profit that specifically hires what they call “VIPs,” which are members of Lexington’s special needs community.

Brewster McLeod, the owner and founder, said the coffee house was his “brainchild.”

Brewster Mcleod sitting at a table in McLeod’s Coffee House in Lexington, Kentucky on Thursday, August 22nd, 2024. Photo by Siler Bargo | Staff

He said he had the idea after working in youth ministry at Southland Christian Church for 20 years. Around nine years ago, McLeod was teaching a class of 85 to 90 individuals with special needs ranging from 9th grade to 70-year-olds at the church when he got the idea for what he wanted to do when he retired.

It took a while for McLeod to transition from youth ministry to opening the coffee house, but a motivating factor behind this career shift was his class and listening to their wide range of needs, one of these being employment. McLeod said that while companies like Kroger, Chick-fil-A and Goodwill have their “token one or two” employees with special needs, his class was struggling to get hired. Unlike the other companies, McLeod said almost everyone behind the counter is a VIP.

With 35-40 paid and volunteer VIPs working at the coffee house, McLeod said he gets most of the disabled community's interest in employment at McLeod’s by attending “Jesus Prom” at Southland, which is a party that celebrates the local special needs community. McLeod started this yearly event in 2000. McLeod said the event typically hosts 800-1000 people with special needs and most of the coffee house’s VIPs have attended.

Similar to the goal of Jesus Prom, McLeod said his class at Southland Christian Church cultivated a sense of acceptance between each other and the main goal of his coffee house is to do the same.

Brewster McLeod talking with new V.I.Ps (special needs adult employees) at McLeod’s Coffee House in Lexington, Kentucky on Thursday, August 22nd, 2024. Photo by Siler Bargo | Staff

“When you think about this place, the big ‘I word,’ inclusion, is so important. That's what this is all about. This place is all about inclusion, for you to include, for the customers to include, for the VIPs to include you,” McLeod said.

Rather than running with what he knew worked for other shops in the area, McLeod wanted to offer a sense of originality.

“It’s not a competition. We’re not trying to be Starbucks and Starbucks doesn’t want to be McLeod’s,” he said.

McLeod stations VIPs at the door to greet everyone who enters, but a guest could also get greeted by McLeod himself.

McLeod is in the coffee house multiple days a week. He can be seen encouraging the VIPs in their daily tasks, introducing them to guests and creating warm interactions with visitors. Within the first 10 minutes of visiting the coffee house, some may already feel like a regular.

Samantha Miller, one of McLeod’s VIPs, said she has been working at McLeod’s for over four years and has had a “wonderful” experience.

Samantha Miller being interviewed at McLeod’s Coffee House in Lexington, Kentucky on Thursday, August 22nd, 2024. Photo by Siler Bargo | Staff

Miller said she is borderline autistic and has a borderline personality disorder. She said she struggles with social cues and will either “extremely love you or will extremely hate your guts. There is no in-between.”

“Relationships are extremely tricky with me … I struggle connecting with people, so those that I consider to be close, I will take them in,” Miller said.

She said her coworkers are understanding of her personality and the environment feels like a family. In recent times Miller has been experiencing an “emotional storm” and said her coworkers have been there for her through her difficult time.

Miller said she intends to stay at McLeod’s as long as she can, but her plans have shifted a bit after getting engaged. She met her fiance while she was taking food service classes at trade school, which she said she would never have attended without the support of McLeod.

“Working here has been a major impact not just for me, but for my parents. Because they actually see me work,” Miller said.

The pay-it-forward wall at McLeod’s Coffee House in Lexington, Kentucky on Thursday, August 22nd, 2024. Photo by Siler Bargo | Staff

Miller will be planning a wedding within the next couple of years, but for now, she plans to continue welcoming customers from behind the counter at McLeod’s Coffee House.

Adding to the one-of-a-kind experience is the decor. Expecting a typical coffee house experience, guests may be used to a modern scene with black, white and wood tones. To most pleasant surprise, McLeod’s is more akin to a second-hand thrifting experience. Almost every item in the coffee house is for sale.

Calling himself a “treasure hunter,” McLeod said he often shops locally and in Louisville second-hand stores to supply the coffee house with a rare selection of goods. McLeod’s sells vintage chairs, tables, artwork, VIP handcrafted lamps and various trinkets. He said he even “dumpster dives” on the occasion, which helps add to the store's quirky reputation.

One team member directly involved with the day-to-day operations and training of the VIPs is McLeod’s general manager, Shelby Grow.

Grow said she has been with McLeod’s since the very beginning.

A polaroid portrait of Shelby Grow at McLeod’s Coffee House in Lexington, Kentucky on Thursday, August 22nd, 2024. Photo by Siler Bargo | Staff

She said she worked at Starbucks throughout high school and college and her Starbucks manager, Juanell Spotts became the general manager of McLeod’s Coffee House. She asked him for a job and was hired as a shift supervisor until she took over as the general manager this past July.

Grow said working at McLeod’s has been a learning process as she had never worked with the special needs community before. Over the years, Grow said listening to the staff has been crucial to her relationships with the VIPs as she learned how undervalued some of them feel.

She said it’s liberating for the VIPs to gain their independence.

“I think I learned a lot about patience and stepping back and allowing them to learn, and only stepping in when I’m asked for help,” Grow said.

Grow said she considers McLeod’s lucky to employ a group of VIPs who are willing to educate each other.

“It's been very cool to learn how to work with this group, such a patient group of people who are willing to let me make mistakes,” Grow said.

Shelby Grow helping employees prepare an order at McLeod’s Coffee House in Lexington, Kentucky on Thursday, August 22nd, 2024. Photo by Siler Bargo | Staff

In her five years at the coffee house, Grow said she learned how much of a need there is for special needs representation and just how capable the VIPs are of doing anything abled body people can do.

“I’ve become a huge advocate for this community. I think that they are a community that is often undervalued,” Grow said. “People assume they don’t have the capability to do the things that you and I do every day and I think in my five years here it has proven to me that they can do almost everything you and I can do.”