WRITTEN BY JORDAN KOSSUTH
Last Mile Café is a local Black and woman owned small business bringing premium coffee, transparency, and ethical and sustainable practices to us from the southeast side of Grand Rapids.
Photo by Ashley Wierenga
Last Mile Café was co-founded by Arick Davis and Sarah Laman, two locals passionate about coffee and committed to making the world a better place.
Arick was born and raised in Grand Rapids, graduating with a degree in electrical engineering from Michigan Technological University. He worked for several Fortune 500 companies and local nonprofits, before his passion for technology, innovation, and community-centric work led him down the entrepreneurial path. Today, Arick continues to serve his community and apply this extensive background as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Last Mile Café.
Sarah earned her bachelor’s degree in photography from Grand Valley State University, where she is currently pursuing a Master’s of Public Administration. As the Co-Founder and Chief Impact & Sustainability Officer, Sarah oversees the organization’s social responsibility, charitable giving, transparency reporting, and external communications. She also designed everything from the Last Mile Cafe logo to marketing materials and merchandise.
This power duo initially met through a dating app in 2016 and have since partnered up on several start-ups and projects. They are currently engaged and looking forward to a wedding in summer 2023.
So why coffee? Arick and Sarah saw an opportunity to create something new that was illustrative of their values, while seeking to address racial and gender equity in the coffee sector. Last Mile Café is a Black-owned and woman-owned small business devoted to providing an accessible and environmentally sustainable premium coffee experience in a welcoming community space.
“If you have an idea and see something you want to create in the world, just do it! If you’re waiting for someone to give you permission, you’re setting yourself up for failure.”
Arick and Sarah launched the Last Mile Café brand in May 2021 and opened their brick and mortar location in December 2022.
Photo by Ashley Wierenga
A Global Impact
Last Mile Café is focused on sustainability, transparency, and accountability – values deeply rooted throughout the business. Community involvement is encouraged every step of the way, with 10% of every purchase donated to a cause of your choice. They aim to make the world a better place by supporting four main causes: Clean Drinking Water, Environmental Justice, Youth at Risk, and Criminal Justice Reform.
In their own words, “access to clean drinking water is a basic human right, not a business model.” Supporting this cause starts at the ground level (literally) for Last Mile Café. When vetting new partners in production, they always confirm that no harmful chemicals are used that could contaminate the local ground water supply. Reasonable Doubt, their single origin Ethiopian coffee, is harvested through a natural process – sun-drying the coffee cherries instead of power-washing them – saving a tremendous amount of water.
Environmental justice is essential to our lives, and another great cause they support. After all, we only have one planet Earth, and we need to focus on the simple steps everyone can take to help maintain and nurture our home! Last Mile Café uses Biotre coffee bags made from renewable and compostable resources. In about 180 days, a portion of these bags breaks down naturally in a home composting environment, so they don’t contribute to the waste in landfills.
Last Mile Café is also a proud donor of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC), who has served this community for 50 years by protecting our natural resources, and educating our youth on how to continue to protect our water for the next 50 years.
Children are our future, so supporting youth at risk means ensuring those in our community and beyond are nurtured to their full potential with accessible resources, education, and growth opportunities. One of the most popular customer-selected charities is As You Are Youth Collective, an organization dedicated to providing circles of support for youth facing homelessness.
Finally, criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in our policing and legal systems that disproportionately impact low-income communities as well as people of color. Organizations like The Innocence Project work to exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals and provide support as they rebuild their lives post-release, while also passing laws and implementing policies to reform the criminal justice system and prevent future injustice.
Each quarter the Last Mile Café team sends out a call to action for customers to nominate charities to support. So far, they’ve been able to donate over $10,000 to these causes and are looking forward to watching this number continue to grow.
Photo by Ashley Wierenga
A People-Focused Coffee Company
Arick and Sarah chose the name “Last Mile Café” as a symbol of where society currently is, and where we are placing our priorities – you can get basically anything delivered to your doorstep, yet there are people without access to basic needs such as healthcare, living wages, and food.
“In the race of society, we are in the last mile. We’ve come so far, but there is so much more important work to be done. That last mile can be the most challenging, but ultimately it is the most rewarding.”
The ethical treatment of people is another core value at Last Mile Café, working to change the narrative of coffee to be more equitable and inclusive, while setting a higher standard for running a business. Being an ethical and sustainable business means making an intentional choice to do the right thing, even when it isn’t the easiest or cheapest route to take.
“Black, Indigenous, and People of Color continue to be the backbone of the coffee industry and frequently face unfair wages and dangerous working conditions. Coffee brands need to take extraordinary measures to ensure their product is ethically sourced, because the industry still faces pervasive exploitative practices.”
Last Mile Café is committed to partnering with farms that prioritize employee access to necessities such as clean drinking water, housing, and food, while maintaining a high standard of working conditions. “It’s all about protecting the local community,” says Arick, “Employees should be paid enough to buy quality products and make the right decisions for their households.”
The business is currently in the process of obtaining their Living Wage Certification, a program which identifies employers who offer employees an income level that allows them to afford housing, food, and other necessities like access to disability insurance. Unlike the national or state-mandated minimum wage, a living wage helps to ensure financial stability on a more local level, varying based on the county’s cost of living.
Photo by Ashley Wierenga
The Café
Last Mile Café is located at 1006 Hall St SE. Customers can stop in and read, write, or take meetings while enjoying this community space. Of course, their coffee is available in all forms, whether it be brewed for your immediate enjoyment or bagged up to savor all week long. Bring your own container and they will fill it for an even more environmentally sustainable experience!
The café also boasts a small versatile back room for customers that can also be rented out. They had a DJ in this space for the grand opening, and even hosted live music from a cellist from Hamilton Grand Rapids during the show’s run at DeVos Performance Hall.
Just stopping in on your way to work? Make Last Mile Café your first stop of the day for a nitro cold brew and some locally made pastries from Rise Authentic Baking Co and Just Enjoy Bakery.
In addition to the store, Last Mile Café coffees can currently be found in two retail locations – their neighboring South East Market, and our very own Bridge Street Market!
Bridge Street Market
Grand Rapids is home to plenty of entrepreneurial support organizations, and Arick jokes that they probably reached out to all of them to help launch Last Mile Café. The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and Spring GR helped connect them with Bridge Street Market in the fall of 2022, where you can now find two of their popular coffees – Four and The Lost Boy.
Four is a single origin medium roast coffee grown in Oaxaca, Mexico with tasting notes of milk chocolate and dried cherries. The Lost Boy is a medium dark roast blend sourced from young farmers under the age of 35 in Guatemala, and an all women-led coffee mill in Burundi. It is produced in partnership with a local roaster to reduce shipping emissions. Tasting notes consist of berry, almond, dark chocolate, and brown sugar, making this perfect for a winter cupping.
Be sure to visit the Last Mile Café site to purchase all 6 of their current coffees, branded merchandise, or to sign up for a coffee subscription – because who doesn’t love delicious coffee delivered straight to their door!?
Photo by Ashley Wierenga