BIGGBY COFFEE ANNOUNCES NEW OFFICE

Category: Company News

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BIGGBY® COFFEE Hires Employee for 13,000-Square Foot Remodel

East Lansing, MI, February 21, 2019– As BIGGBY® COFFEE launches into 2019, they’re doing so in a brand-new office space. The conscious company had a goal of creating an office space that is more inviting, open, and reflective of a company that is growing at an exponential rate, and they’ve done just that.

 

The new BIGGBY® COFFEE office space is trendy, comfortable, and echoes the fun, unintimidating, successful coffee shops throughout much of Michigan and growing throughout the nation at an aggressive rate. Co-CEOs Bob Fish and Mike McFall have built an organization that encourages their Home Office employees, baristas, owner/operators, and community members to build lives they love. Through this office redesign they were able to do just that by hiring one of their own Home Office employees to design and conduct the build-out of the new space that will house the 60+ Home Office employees.

 

When Jessica Martin, BIGGBY® COFFEE Home Office employee, left her hometown of Marquette, Mich., she knew that she had to build a life full of intentionality and success—enough to warrant leaving her friends, family, and the quaint town she loved behind. She took her passion for design and in between working full time as BIGGBY® COFFEE’s Senior Real Estate Specialist she created an event and interior decoration business called Peetie Bird Vintage. This allowed her the opportunity to build a business based on creativity and her passions, while having the security of a successful career with BIGGBY® COFFEE. When Fish and McFall approached her about designing a new open office concept for their approximately 13,000 square-foot Home Office it truly felt like she made it—the decision she made to move from Marquette to the Lansing area was the right one.

 

 

“It was very powerful to me that a company would take a risk and hire my business and not outsource to a large firm. Not only did it provide for me financially, as it has enabled me to invest in the future of my business, but it has given me more courage to take on and go after the big projects,” Martin said.

 

Fish and McFall have been hard at work creating a conscious company—a business that believes they can do good for its employees, the environment, and its shareholders all at the same time. With this, they strive to help support everyone—BIGGBY® COFFEE employees and community members alike—in living life with purpose and going after their dreams. Martin is a shining example that Fish and McFall are putting their money where their mouths are.

 

“It was clear to us that [design] was a passion of [Jessica’s] and it just felt right to fulfill her passion,” Fish said. “We felt great about giving her that experience,” McFall added.

 

Martin is just one example that Fish and McFall are taking conscious capitalism to the next level by fully supporting her design business both personally and financially.

 

“Allowing Jessica to live her dream with the support and investment of her work family…it doesn’t get much better than that. Hiring Jessica has shown that BIGGBY’s® vision isn’t just a bunch of words, it’s real, and in action,” BIGGBY® COFFEE Home Office Brand Ambassador, Rebecca Vacek said.

 

Vacek’s sentiment was shared throughout the community of small business owners Martin worked with on this new design. As she worked with various small businesses within Michigan, Martin had the opportunity to share with some of them the BIGGBY® COFFEE purpose to help support people in building lives they love. As they reflected on this purpose, many of the small business owners Martin worked with were amazed that a corporation would actively strive to help build people up.

 

“I think it’s amazing…when you have somebody [bringing] in these people trying to build up their lives…it gives you hope,” owner of Dana Dog Creations, Dana Smith, contributor of the Home Office design, said of the co-CEOs hiring one of their own employees and a fellow small-business owner, to do such a large project.

 

As the reality of the project settled in, Martin had only one vision for the BIGGBY® COFFEE Home Office. She pictured an atomic theme—a cross between retro and space, a theme the company is embracing as they takeoff into accomplishing the big goals they’ve set for themselves for the next 10 years. With the idea in mind, she presented a budget then design—all of which BIGGBY® COFFEE leadership glowingly approved.

 

Martin quickly got to work. The hope was to transform the standard workspace the company had into a workspace where Home Office employees could interact and engage with each other in an office setting that allowed them to move about more easily and communicate and collaborate with each other in a non-traditional way outside of the small offices they shared before the renovation.

 

“It’s made coming to work so much more fun. I really underestimated the effect workspace design has on my creativity,” Home Office Graphic Designer Emma Scott said.

 

Martin explained that while she focused on the design, the whole project was largely about people—not only creating a warm and collaborative environment for Home Office employees, but Fish and McFall taking a chance on her, her taking a chance on various small businesses, and all of them building lives they love. The small businesses she worked with weren’t just selling her material items, Martin said, but they are people that she—and thusly BIGGBY® COFFEE—supported in building a life they love. Through Fish and McFall taking a chance on her, she was able to take a chance on these small business owners and help build them and their communities up, accomplishing the BIGGBY® COFFEE purpose of helping to support people in building lives they love.

 

“I wanted to make sure we emphasized the importance of keeping things local or Michigan-based, all the way from Lansing to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula,” Martin said, emphasizing the choice to use small businesses. “Since our mission statement is that we are a company who ‘exists to help support people in building a life they love,’ I felt the importance in exemplifying that. What better way to give than to show our love to the community by keeping dollars local and helping small businesses owners go after what they love to do?”

 

That included some of Martin’s favorite finds, art pieces from a former Michigan State University art professor’s estate sale, not only the alma mater of Fish but a huge part of the community BIGGBY® COFFEE lives in. Martin also hired local businesses to create main office items like the honeycomb tables that were hand-crafted and built specifically for the BIGGBY® COFFEE Home Office space by a local Lansing, Mich., artist, Mickey Fink.

 

As Smith, mentioned earlier, works on building up the business she started in her home about 5 years ago, she was excited to get the opportunity to re-design some furniture featured in the office. Smith noted that seeing someone like Martin, working in the same business of design and in the same central location, she’s received some direction of her own as she continues to build her business. As she strives to get her name out there, she looks forward to sharing with the community that she had a part in the BIGGBY® COFFEE redesign!

 

Along with working with these small businesses, Martin made a concerted effort to use the talents of her co-workers, helping them to build lives they love—just like the opportunity she received from Fish and McFall. Scott, mentioned earlier, created framed prints around the office, a yarn hanging, and wooden frames that act as a main focal point and wall divider. She hired another Home Office employee to make blankets that sit in the lounge areas of the office, giving off a warm and inviting feeling, and other employees for electrical work and more.

 

Martin also used this opportunity to emphasize the company’s environmental efforts by reusing and repurposing materials. The office space has approximately 171 repurposed and reused items.

 

“Shopping secondhand first is important to keep items out of landfills and it also helps fund non-profit organizations who provide services to the less fortunate,” Martin said. Martin developed the habit of shopping secondhand when she was a child with her parents and has used that as a main defining aspect of her own business.

 

 

Martin sourced not only from local businesses, but from a number of charitable organizations within the Greater Lansing and Marquette areas: Volunteers of America, the Salvation Army, City Rescue Mission, Silver Creek Thrift, and St. Vincent De Paul.

Another small business Martin invested in was Janine’s Boutique, a small boutique in Grand Ledge, Mich., owned by Janine Lee.

 

Lee reupholstered three chairs in the office space. When Lee came to visit the Home Office, she thought it was amazing to see so many reused and repurposed materials in the office.

 

“It’s kind of amazing….There is some opportunity still. We’ve got to save things from the landfills,” Lee said.

 

Some of these repurposed items include mismatched thrifted conference chairs and couches; vintage lamps and lighting; and repurposed cardboard to make dog houses for the Doggie Den, a space important to this dog-friendly workplace where BIGGBY® COFFEE employees can bring their dogs to work with them.

 

The BIGGBY® COFFEE Home Office celebrated the new office space with mimosas and a homestyle breakfast. The Home Office employees took an entire morning to tour their new office and celebrate the accomplishments of Martin.

 

As the BIGGBY® COFFEE Home Office settles into their new office, one thing exponentially rings true: the Home Office employees love their new space.

 

“I am blown away. The beauty of the space is naturally invigorating and creatively inspiring,” Sarah Stark, BIGGBY® COFFEE Brand Ambassador said. “The fact that the design intentionally leaned into sustainability and upcycling really aligns with the nature of BIGGBY® COFFEE, reflecting our cultural values and aspirations, and thus making it even more one of a kind… ”

 

Alisha Stewart, Engagement and Innovation Manager, shared similar sentiments. She relayed that the space allowes her to function in a new way as she communicates and interacts with co-workers in a different way. “It’s so hard to explain what happened to my brain the minute I started working in here. This space breeds creativity and collaboration. It is so open and bright, it just makes me happy. I also love the ability to move around each day. New space, new mindset, new friends!” Stewart said.

 

As BIGGBY® COFFEE starts the new year in their new office space, they are ready to do big things within the communities they live and throughout the world. As they continue to help support people in building lives they love, BIGGBY® COFFEE is more ready than ever to make friends, have fun, and share great coffee.

 

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BIGGBY^® COFFEE, East Lansing, Mich.-based, was started with a single store on March 15, 1995. One year later, and on the cusp of opening a second location, Bob Fish and Michael McFall, on a handshake and $4,000, decided to franchise the concept. BIGGBY^® COFFEE’s cultural values of Make Friends, Have Fun, B Yourself, and Share Great Coffee help coffee-lovers and the coffee-curious alike benefit from a less pretentious and fun approach to the standard gourmet cafe paradigm. Besides connoisseur-worthy drinks with pronounceable names like Teddy Bear^® and Caramel Marvel^®, BIGGBY^® baristas provide a unique experience focused on brightening their customer’s day and supporting them in building a life they love. The “Big ‘B’” on the orange background caught on, and today BIGGBY^® COFFEE has 230 cafes open across 9 states including: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Florida, and Texas. In 2018, BIGGBY^® launched an Area Representative Program and currently has 8 area representatives in 6 states.

 

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Nikki Robertson at 517-980-0995 or email at press@biggby.com.