Carlos Sims Jr. founded Happy Home Coffee in 2019.
Writer: Madi Bierl
Photos: Duane Tinkey
Carlos Sims Jr. founded Happy Home Coffee to create a happy home for customers and to connect people from different backgrounds. The company operates primarily online but also sells coffee at the downtown farmers market and hopes to build a brick-and-mortar shop where folks can gather.
It all started in 2019 when Sims was working for another local coffee company, in a shop in a neighborhood he described as a melting pot of immigrants and minorities. Whenever he popped out of the office, he’d see all kinds of people — different races, different classes, different walks of life. “I just remember looking at them like, ‘Oh my gosh, I feel like I’m changing the world right now,’” he said. “I’m bringing in people who would never step foot in the same vicinity. They’re in the same space right now.”
Sims figured this is how he could change the world: one cup of coffee at a time.
One way Happy Home Coffee does that is through its direct trade relationships with farmers. Sims visited Honduras in February to see firsthand where his best-selling blends like Home Sweet Home come from and who grows them. He met two producers — sisters who took over their father’s farm — and plans to revisit every year to see how his company can help them, beyond just buying their beans.
Sims pointed out that most of the world’s coffee comes from Central America, South America and Africa, grown by Black and brown farmers. “It’s just really cool to be able to be on this side of the coffee industry and to be able to represent it well,” he said.
Besides running his coffee business, Sims serves as a pastor at Frontier Church on College Avenue. He said his faith informs how he manages his business and treats people.
“A lot of times you hear this theme — I hear it in the church world: ‘Just leave your stuff at the door.’ But I’m like, ‘No, I want all of you. I want all of your mess,’” he said. “Let’s work through this together, let’s cry together, let’s laugh together.”
Besides, he likes to take advantage of the way coffee naturally brings people together. “It was just really cool to see this thing that I put so much labor into connecting people across tables, across lifestyles, races and religions,” he said. “I think this is what we’ve been called to do.”
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