Compass Coffee facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Coffee roaster |
| Founded | July 2014 Shaw, Washington, D.C., United States |
| Founder | Michael Haft |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., United States |
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Number of employees
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190 (2020) |
Compass Coffee is an American coffee roaster based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 2014 and operates in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. As of March 2023[update], the company has 16 stores.
History
The company was founded by Michael Haft in 2014. Following the Shaw neighborhood store, a second store was opened in the same neighborhood in September 2015. Over the next few years, other stores were opened in Washington DC and Arlington, Virginia. The first drive-through store was opened in October, 2022.
On October 20, 2017, Compass Coffee founder Michael Haft received the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce's Community Impact Award at the 2017 Chamber's Choice Gala. On March 31, 2017, Compass Coffee was featured in DC Mayor Muriel Bowser's State of the District Address for jump-starting the Made in DC movement and creating jobs in DC.
Partnerships
Compass Coffee has partnered with Dog Tag Bakery, which offers a vocational program teaching disabled military veterans and their caregivers entrepreneurship skills to launch businesses. Compass supplies the bakery with coffee, and Michael Haft serves as a guest speaker with each cohort. Compass has also formed partnership with The Corp at Georgetown University which is a student run organization that teaches students management and leadership shills through operating businesses on campus. Compass has been supplying The Corp since 2015. The Washington Post and Compass Coffee collaborated on "The Post Roast," a coffee blend celebrating The 7 newsletter and podcast, reaching over a million subscribers and recognized as Apple's top series of 2022.
Impact of COVID-19
Due to the impact of COVID-19, Compass laid off 150 of its 189 employees in March 2020. The remaining staff had their pay cut to $15 per hour, and about 20 of the staff assisted in the construction of a new roasting facility.
