Justice Champion Spotlight: I Have a Bean and Redemption Roasters
Coffee has the power to bring people together and create positive change. For International Coffee Day on October 1st, we’re spotlighting U.K. and U.S. coffee businesses that are not only seasoned second-chance employers but also founded on this central mission.
I Have a Bean is a coffee roaster in Wheaton, IL that has been hiring justice-impacted individuals and roasting award-winning coffee for the past 18 years.
Redemption Roasters has 12 coffee shops across London and has partnered with local prisons since 2016 to train currently and formerly incarcerated individuals both within and outside prison.
Both understand firsthand how business can be used as a powerful driver of social impact. By focusing on the skills, potential, and adaptability of formerly incarcerated workers and individuals with a record, they go beyond traditional hiring practices to recruit dedicated employees.
Read on to hear insights from I Have A Bean’s Founder Pete Leonard and Redemption Roaster’s Head of Impact Rosemary Ashworth.
As a long-time second-chance employer, how have the conversations around hiring justice-impacted individuals evolved over time (and within the business community)?
When we launched this business in 2007 with the explicit purpose of employing justice-impacted individuals, many people questioned our judgment. They assumed the risks of entrepreneurship were already high and that intentionally hiring those with felony records was simply too much risk with too little reward.
Over the years, that perception has shifted significantly. While some still describe what we do as “courageous,” there has been enough public exposure and dialogue around second-chance employment that we are no longer viewed as outliers. Today, I regularly engage in conversations with other small business owners who want to learn from our experience.
What I’ve found is that success in Second Chance Hiring does not require someone exceptional or unusually brave. It requires a willingness to see people for who they are now, not just for the mistakes they made in the past. Hiring someone who has been to prison is not an extraordinary act. It is a profoundly human one, and it can strengthen a business in ways they never anticipated.
I Have a Bean staff with their Loring roaster, and Pete Leonard (right).
What does your recruitment and hiring process look like at I Have a Bean? How have you tailored your approach to ensure fairness and opportunity for people with a record?
Hiring people with records is central to who we are and what we do. We focus on five key character traits: honesty, dependability, agency, teachability, and identity shift — the core belief that a person is not defined by a past mistake. They have learned, they have grown, they have become someone new. These traits are not unique to justice-impacted candidates. They are the same traits any small business owner wants in every candidate.
Beyond process, our “why” is to change public perception of people who have a felony record. What we have discovered is that the excellence of our coffee not only changes minds on the outside, it also builds our employees’ confidence on the inside. Producing something of world-class quality shifts self-perception from shame to pride, from “I am defined by my past” to “I am capable and valuable.” That transformation, both internal and external, is the true measure of our work and what keeps us eager to come to work every day.
Louis (left), former employee at I Have a Bean, and employee (right) signing and dating a batch of coffee they roasted.
Could you please share any success stories or anecdotes from employees that showcase the impact of Second Chance Hiring — on both them and your business?
Louis was once serving a sentence of life plus 100 years for attempted murder. During his time in prison, he experienced a profound transformation through his faith in Christ, which led to his early release after just 15 years. Four months later, he joined I Have a Bean. Louis learned to roast coffee, evaluate its flavor, and share it with customers. In the process, he grew into a new vision for his life: helping others avoid the path he once walked.
After a few years with us, Louis left to work with a nonprofit serving prisoners, and later launched his own organization focused on mentoring youth in detention centers. He and his wife even purchased a home to provide stability for young people reentering society. Today, Louis travels the country speaking in prisons and churches, demonstrating the reality of redemption and the power of a second chance.
Louis is not just a former employee. He is a friend, a brother, and a living testament to what becomes possible when society refuses to define someone by their past. His story illustrates the true impact of Second Chance Hiring: it strengthens businesses, transforms lives, and ripples out into communities for generations.
What would you share with fellow U.S. businesses that are considering hiring people with criminal records?
Too often, businesses are scared away from Second Chance Hiring because of inflated recidivism rates. The truth is that most people who go to prison never return, and research shows that the average re-offense rate is far lower than commonly reported. Furthermore, those who return often do so for technical violations, not for a new offense.
When we promote inflated or incomplete statistics, we reinforce fear and bias. That not only harms justice-impacted people, it discourages businesses from discovering the talent and commitment that are waiting for them
My encouragement to fellow business leaders is simple: look past the myths, evaluate people on their character, and give them the opportunity to prove what they can do. The rewards, both for your business and for society, are far greater than the misperceived risks.
Can you start by telling us about Redemption Roasters’ mission and how you began your Fair Chance Hiring journey?
Redemption Roasters’ mission is to reduce reoffending through coffee. We train prisoners and prison leavers as baristas and support them into employment across our 12 London coffee shops and the wider hospitality industry. Our journey began when founders Max Dubiel and Ted Rosner met a Ministry of Justice representative and saw the chance to build a coffee business with real social impact. Our training requires no prior experience, focusing on practical barista skills, confidence and employability.
Over 100 prison leavers have been employed, with an average tenure of over 400 days, and our reoffending rate remains consistently below 5%, compared to the national average of 38%. By combining high-quality coffee with second-chance employment, we’re helping people rewrite their futures while proving that social impact and business success can thrive together.
Redemption Roasters staff at work.
How does Redemption Roasters work with the Ministry of Justice and local prisons to increase job opportunities for people impacted by the justice system?
We work closely with the Ministry of Justice and prison partners to expand employment opportunities and reduce reoffending. Our coffee is still roasted behind bars, now at HMP The Mount, where residents gain coffee roasting training and hands-on workplace experience. Beyond this, we run barista academies in four prisons and provide training in the community for those post-release, with each Participant supported by a caseworker to ensure employment is sustainable. Importantly, we assess all offence types individually, including serious ones, believing that everyone deserves the chance to prove they’ve changed.
This partnership-led model helps prison leavers overcome stigma, discrimination and unemployment — the biggest drivers of reoffending. By breaking down barriers to work, we not only support social mobility but also strengthen public safety, proving how collaboration between government and business can create real, lasting impact.
Coffee served at one of their 12 locations in London.
How is your model preparing effectively participants for success before and after release?
Our model equips participants with the skills, confidence and support to thrive in work, both before and after release. Inside prison, we provide accredited training and workplace experience that gives participants hands-on skills and a sense of purpose while in custody. On release, they continue with training, receive wrap-around caseworker support and are connected with real employment opportunities, either in our 12 shops or across the wider hospitality industry. One-third of our shop staff are prison leavers, showing how central this model is to our business. Our approach and impact demonstrates that fair employment opportunities, belief, and ongoing support can completely change life outcomes for prison leavers.
Can you share a story or example of an employee whose journey highlights the transformative power of Fair Chance Hiring?
Below is J’s story, in his own words.
“My name is J and I was an inmate at The Mount prison and while I was there I had the opportunity to work with Redemption Roasters. This was within itself one of the most important parts of my 17 years within the prison system as far as I am concerned, giving me not only the training in the coffee world but by helping me to get a better understanding of what the future could have for me if I wanted and was prepared to go out and get it.
Within the workings of Redemption Roasters is what I call and think of as a team of support workers. I had my first meeting with them and found as I did with the team in The Mount, that they were people who really did take care, they were people who not only showed a interest, they were interested in me, the person, who I was, my life and what I wanted from it and what they could do to help me.” …
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I had a head full of ideas about a million and one different things I could do if I was released and at that point in time release seemed a dream after having d cat taken away from me. Even then they kept me focused on a life outside of the prison system. I was able to talk to them every time they came into the prison and after each meeting I was left full of hope for the future and it was no longer dreams, through the encouragement and belief that they installed in me a realisation that things are achievable.
I was so surprised just how quickly the time passed and I was on my next parole hearing before I knew it. So you can imagine how surprised at not only getting it but also no d cat it's straight release and it's in a month or so. The support team just went into overdrive, making sure that everything was in place for me. It was all arranged I was to be met outside the gate on my release.
I can say now in all honesty if I had been left to my own devices I would of been in one heck of a pickle. Instead I was met at the gate helped out with a phone, taken to the local train station, then onto London and stayed with till my train arrived and I was waved off. This may not seem like much to some people but after 17 years of prison this without a doubt in my mind could of been a moment in time when I could of easily fell at the first hurdle.
This is not where you may think it ends, not by a long way, there as been many phone calls, texts and emails, all full of words of encouragement, praise and a never ending of asking what more can we do to help and support you. I am not one to hold back, I say it has it is and I say this with all honesty I could not ask for better support than what I got from the support team, while in prison and even more so now that I am released. They like the workers in the mount have installed a want to be a better person, one that I and others can be proud of, this they do by walking the walk and talking the talk, they do what it says on the tin and are nothing short of the perfect role models in my mind. This just makes me want to do the same and at present I am now just after being free for two months in talks with two government agencies looking at me opening a cafe that will be located close to a prison so it can offer help to prisoners on the day of their release. I have so much to be grateful to them for all that they have done and even now they are there supporting me in my new venture. I could go on and on as I have nothing but praise for them, thank you all at Redemption Roasters.”
The Block, one of Redemption Roaster’s classic espresso blends.
What message would you give to fellow U.K. businesses that are considering hiring people with criminal records — and how has this approach strengthened your business?
Second chances often start with a simple step: offering an interview. By opening your doors to someone with a criminal record, you’re doing more than creating the possibility of a job, you’re showing belief in their ability to change. That belief matters. At Redemption Roasters, we’ve hired over 100 prison leavers and witnessed how trust and opportunity unlock resilience, loyalty and talent. Far from being a risk, Fair Chance Hiring has strengthened our business, bringing diversity of thought and lived experience to our team. We encourage other employers to look beyond stigma and see the potential.
If you’d like to learn more about Fair Chance Hiring, visit our Inclusive Hiring page and contact our team — we'd love to connect.