Aaron Mallory’s ties to his community are as strong and rich as the brews available in his Waynesboro coffee shop. He created the upscale, yet cozy, cafe to be a third space between work and home where his neighbors can experience the highs and lows of life together. 

“Coffee is really exciting, but connection is our main mission,” says Mallory. “We started brainstorming names and wanted to go with something that would be easy to remember with roots in positivity and goodness. Happ is the Nordic root of words like happy, happenchance, happening.”

Mallory’s caffeine-fueled journey began as a barista for a well-known Seattle-based chain in 2014. He worked there for about two months before realizing it was not the kind of coffeemaking he wanted to master. After a stint with another shop in Charlottesville, he transferred to Crozet where he and wife Bethany became immersed in small town life.

“We were getting to know this community really well and didn't even know our next door neighbors,” said Mallory. “We started thinking about how we could take apply that model here and it was kind of the impetus for launching Farmhaus Coffee Co. back in 2016.”

Waynesboro EDA’s revolving loan fund helped the couple get that business off the ground and operate successfully for several years. Along the way, they saw a lot of life happening in the shop and it reinforced their broader purpose for the business.

“We witnessed first dates, people meeting up for the first time just as friends and even had a couple of people planning a funeral in our spot,” said Mallory. "It really became that hub where we saw many beautiful moments unfolding right under our roof.”

When they started to roast their own coffee to broaden their impact, the entrepreneurs began looking at other spaces to support that operation. The current Happ Coffee suite showed a lot of promise beyond production and was outfitted to include a retail presence.

The revolving loan fund came to the rescue again to help finance the purchase of the first roaster and make a down payment on a second one that has allowed the business to produce about 500 pounds of coffee per week for use in the shop.

“Each one of those roasters starts at close to $20,000 and can cost upwards of $500,000,” said Mallory. “So, it's a pretty significant upfront cost. We really couldn't have done it without low interest loans to mitigate the risk. It's been a lifesaver.”

Mallory grew up in Weyers Cave and loves living in the Shenandoah Valley where agriculture is king. Those roots may be one of the reasons he is so committed to supporting farmers.

“We've been buying exclusively from one farmer for two years now, which is really cool, and have recently started sending our roasted coffee back to her in Honduras,” said Mallory. “Growers don't often get to taste their own product because they're drinking the commodity grade. They're like, ‘Wait, this is what my coffee tastes like?’”

Happ Coffee also supports the local economy as the owners work to grow the wholesale side and online retail presence. Mallory’s team of seven full-time and four part-time employees helped serve up close to $1 million in sales for 2024.

As they move into 2025, the focus will be on taking the products to potential new customers. When she’s not working the roaster, Director of Community Engagement Tori Jackson is doing tastings with local businesses to get their Happ Coffee into new spaces. Along the way, she is educating them about the value of locally roasted, high grade specialty coffee.

“A lot of it is just knocking on doors to drop off some samples, talk coffee with them, see what they're doing with it and how we can partner,” explains Mallory. “In many cases, our coffee is priced comparably, and we hope they’ll see a huge quality difference when they taste it.”

Happ has teamed up with dozens of local businesses to carry their products and collaborated with Basic City Beer Company to brew a few beers with their beans. They’ve also hosted a wide range of events from wedding receptions to baby showers to foster a greater sense of community.

“It's been a wild, exhausting journey,” said Mallory. “Small business ownership is not for the faint of heart, but we’ve had a great time doing it. We really have made so many strong connections along the way.”