Amy Wright (center),
Bitty (left) and Beau.

People with
disabilities staff Bitty
& Beau’s
in Annapolis
BY ERICA RIMLINGER
28 Washington FAMILY
OCTOBER 2019
i n September, a new coff ee shop
will replace the Starbucks on
Dock Street. Bitty & Beau’s
Coff ee is, like Starbucks, a chain, but
smaller and with a very diff erent mission.

Amy and Ben Wright, the Wilmington,
N.C.-based founders of Bitty & Beau’s
Coff ee, named their coff ee shops after
their son and daughter who have Down
syndrome, and primarily employ people
with disabilities.

“But it’s not just about creating jobs and
opportunity for people with disabilities,”
says CEO Amy Wright. “It’s about the cus-
tomers’ experience and their takeaway.

We’re trying to reach people and change
people’s perceptions about people with
disabilities. It’s amazing to see people
come in for a cup of coff ee. A lot of peo-
ple who have maybe never spent time with
someone with Down syndrome or autism
have a transformative experience.”
Starting three and a half years ago,
in their hometown of Wilmington, the
Wrights have been steadily expanding on
the southeastern seaboard and opening
Bitty & Beau’s Coff ee in Charleston, S.C.,
Savannah, Ga., and now Annapolis.

“We like to plant ourselves where
there’s a lot of tourism and foot traffi c,”
Wright says. They’ve chosen to open shops
in cities and towns where “you have your
community and you also have the infl ux of
tourists that come in.”
This, she says, increases the reach of
Bitty & Beau’s Coff ee’s mission.

“Those customers go back to their
workplaces and look around and say, ‘Wait
a second, why don’t we have somebody
working here who has a disability? Let’s
do something about that.’”
That ripple eff ect, Wright says, is
what’s “going to really create change in
our country.”
Amy and Ben met while enrolled at the
University of Cincinnati College-Conser-
vatory of Music. It was, Wright notes,
“love at fi rst sight,” and they moved
quickly. After meeting in September
1992, Ben proposed that New Year’s Eve
in Times Square, and the two married in
May 1993. Five years later they had their
fi rst child, Lillie, and 19 months later, wel-
comed another daughter, Emma Grace.

Their world changed when, fi ve years
later, their son, Beau, arrived. “Though we
had an idea he might have Down syndrome,
we did initially go through that shock and
sadness in the beginning days,” Wright
remembers. “It was something that didn’t
TOP: PROVIDED; HEART: ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS/FRENTUSHA
coffee shop
brews opportunity