Welcome to For The Love of Coffee!

This is the first-ever edition of a new weekly Vienna employee-only blog. Each week I will bring you useful and current information about all things coffee, especially as it relates to you as a valued team member here at Vienna Coffee. I hope you find it educational, inspirational, and at times entertaining! :) ~Matt

In this week’s blog, I would like to focus for just a few minutes on what makes the Specialty Coffee Industry (the one we all work in every day) so special. Here are just a few of the hundreds of reasons why what YOU do every day makes such a big difference in people’s lives here in your community and around the world.

• Coffee is the second-largest traded commodity in the world, second only to Oil in trade volume. Indeed, that humble cup of coffee you serve our customers every day is the end result of a worldwide chain of people beginning with the coffee farmer right down to YOU, all contributing to produce this amazing beverage. In fact, you are the final link in a chain of hundreds of people whose life’s work is to bring the highest-quality coffee they possibly can to market for only one reason: the enjoyment of others. You are VERY important in this chain!

• The Specialty Coffee Industry provides a living for hundreds of thousands of people all over the world making it possible for them to live, and raise a family while providing a product or service of which they can be proud and that brings joy to others. While coffee as a commodity has been around for thousands of years, the specialty coffee business is still in its relatively early stages. It could be argued that Starbucks started the specialty coffee industry in America. Starting in 1971 in Seattle, WA, Starbucks rose to a multi-million dollar business by the late 80s through strategic targeted expansion and in 2021 had over 383,000 employees. Since those early days of Specialty Coffee, tens of thousands more coffee shops of all sizes and shapes have opened their doors, including the first Vienna Coffee House on High Street in Maryville in 2010. The Specialty Coffee Industry is projected to continue to grow at an incredible annual rate of 9.2% through 2026. You are in good company, in an industry well-positioned for continued growth and opportunities!

You can be proud to work for Vienna Coffee Company (VCC) knowing that we support dozens of charitable organizations and projects in your community. This list includes:

• Maryville City Schools Foundation

• Friends of The Smokies

• Foothills Community Players

• Alcoa City Schools Foundation

• Alzheimers TN Walks

• CASA of TN Heartland

• Second Harvest Food Bank of East TN

• Blount County Habitat for Humanity

in addition to several more worthy organizations. VCC also regularly gives away a number of food and product overages to local charities and food banks. You all play a very important role in our continued ability to support all of these great local causes.

As I hope you can see, YOU play an extremely valuable role in a very special company within a very special industry! I for one am grateful every single day to be a part of such a wonderful local business that is making an impact both locally and globally. I hope you feel the same! :) ~Matt