A coffee shop chain staffed by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a group dramatically underemployed nationwide, has permanently shuttered its only Pittsburgh-area location.
Bitty & Beau’s Coffee on Tuesday closed the doors on its shop in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. “Unsustainable financial loss” led to the shutdown, according to a letter posted on the store’s front window.
Around noon Friday, the store was empty but lights remained on inside. Company officials did not return phone calls or online inquiries Friday seeking comment.
“Our shop has been a beacon of inclusivity, hope and joy,” the posted statement read. “We are so grateful for the opportunity to have served each of you in the City of Pittsburgh.”
The only remaining Bitty & Beau’s location in the state operates in Bethlehem, Northampton County, in northeast Pennsylvania.
In 2024, the year Bitty & Beau’s opened its Pittsburgh location on Smallman Street, less than 23% of Americans with a disability were employed, a Bureau of Labor Statistics report said. Workers with a disability that year were twice as likely to work part-time jobs as workers with no disability.
That same year, by comparison, more than 67% of American men and nearly 57% of women were employed, according to a separate labor report.
Those numbers were higher in Pennsylvania in 2023, according to a study conducted at Cornell University.
More than 45% of Pennsylvania residents ages 21 to 64 were employed in 2023, the disability statistics report said. By comparison, nearly 83% of Pennsylvanians of the same age without a disability worked.
“I think this region … is doing pretty well,” said Mary Hartley, president of The Arc of Greater Pittsburgh, which advocates for Pennsylvanians with disabilities. “For the past 20 years, our region has been actively working to engage employees and ensure we also have champion employers out there.”
‘It’s heartbreaking’
Tomas O’Brien-Bird, who has Down syndrome, started working at Bitty & Beau’s shortly after it opened.
It was the first job for the Squirrel Hill man and Allderdice High School alum, now 22, his mother told TribLive Friday. He previously worked at the South Hills concession stand for his baseball league and volunteered at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Tomas O’Brien-Bird learned of the pending closing a few weeks ago. He came home this month from Kent State University, where he is in the first of a four-year program for students with disabilities.
He worked his final shift Dec. 18.
“It was a really wonderful experience for him — and it was inclusive,” said Amy O’Brien-Bird, of Squirrel Hill, Tomas’ mother. “It’s heartbreaking that they couldn’t get the shop to break even.”
O’Brien-Bird said her son worked as a “caller” at the Smallman Street coffee shop. When drinks were prepared, he’d make sure to get them to customers. He also handled cold drinks and drip coffee orders.
“For him, I think it was good just having that structure, having that place to go,” O’Brien-Bird said. “Earning a paycheck, having a job, there’s a lot of identity tied up in that.”
Employees at retail shops around the former Bitty & Beau’s location said Friday they were surprised by news of the closing. One Strip District worker who regularly frequented Bitty & Beau’s for its hot chocolate said they first saw the closing notice on the shop’s door Monday, a day before the shop ceased operations.
A setback
Bitty & Beau’s opened its first shop, staffed by 19 individuals with disabilities, in Wilmington, N.C. in 2016, according to its website. The company’s founders, Amy and Ben Wright, have four children, including one with autism and one with Down syndrome.
Today, the chain employs more than 450 people with disabilities, the website said. Its 14 locations can be found in 11 different states.
Rabbi Mordy Rudolph knows how important an issue employment is for many adults with disabilities.
The executive director of The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh, a part of the national nonprofit serving those with special needs, helps teach job skills to children and adults with disabilities through a bakery it opened in 2023.
Bunny Bakes, which is open six days a week in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill business district, currently employs about 20 people, half of whom have a disability, Rudolph told TribLive.
“We heard about (Bitty & Beau’s) closing from our community and not through real estate news — and that tells you everything you need to know,” Rudolph said Friday.
When it comes to job opportunities for people with disabilities in the Pittsburgh area, Bitty & Beau’s closing its only area location “definitely has an impact,” Rudolph said.
“There’s always a concern and a knowledge that we need to keep our feet on the gas,” he added. “And, when something like this closes, yes, it’s a setback.”