Mass. coffee shop breaking barriers for people with disabilities closes

© WCVB the coffee shop's goal is to change the way people see other people with disabilities, especially in the workplace.

A Massachusetts neighborhood coffee shop that employed individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities has closed its doors.

Bitty and Beau's Coffee's on Main Street in Melrose opened in 2021 and was about changing perspectives and possibilities.

The self-proclaimed "radically inclusive" chain of coffee shops spread across more than a dozen states is run by people with disabilities.

The Melrose coffee shop, which opened in 2021, was their seventh location and only one in Massachusetts.

"B&B Worldwide Inc, the franchisor of Bitty & Beau’s Coffee, announced that effective March 15, 2023, its franchise shop in Melrose closed," the company said in response to an inquiry from WCVB.

© WCVB bitty and beaus closure notice

"Bitty and Beau are our two youngest children," Amy Wright said in an interview with WCVB in 2021. "They both have Down syndrome."

Wright and her husband opened up their family's first coffee shop five years ago in North Carolina.

Bitty & Beau’s Coffee has since grown to 23 shops across 12 states with over 400 employees.

The company said franchise shops are individually owned and operated. "B&B Worldwide is actively pursuing a new Bitty & Beau’s Coffee franchise location in Boston proper," the statement said.

"We are grateful for the hard work and dedication the employees in Melrose have demonstrated over the past year and a half and hope that our mission has inspired other businesses to consider hiring individuals with disabilities," the company's statement said.

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