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Meet Mike and Gary
Heine Brothers’ Coffee was started in October, 1994 by Mike Mays and Gary Heine in Louisville, KY, We like to think of our coffee shops as “neighborhood gathering places”, where you can go to recharge. You can relax, meet friends and family, work or just enjoy the magic of the day. We are committed to operating responsibly and sustainably and to quality products, clean cafes and gratitude for our customers, staff, vendors and this community. From our beginning, we’ve recycled everything we can and continue to work on ways to reduce our carbon footprint. We celebrate our local community by offering locally made food and products as well as providing countless donations in the form of coffee, time and money to many charities and organizations.
Over the years, we began working in sustainable local agriculture, first in the coffee growing countries as we worked closely with farmers growing fair trade, organic coffee. In 2000, we cofounded Cooperative Coffees, the world’s first organic, fair trade, green coffee purchasing cooperative. This enables us to work directly in the growing countries with cooperatives of coffee farmers in community to help them grow better coffee and get better prices for it.
We roast this organic, fair trade coffee in a small-batch Sivetz coffee roaster, one of only 400 like it in the world. This roaster floats the coffee beans on a bed of heated air as it roasts. This beauty of this roasting method is that it gently reveals the amazing aromas and flavors of our special coffees. Then we make sure these superb coffees are brewed or sold in our stores within a few weeks of their roasting date. This freshness is the simple key to great coffee. So by sourcing the great coffees of the world directly from the farmers who grow it, then gently roasting the beans to their peak of flavor, and by insuring its freshness, we can bring the world’s best coffees to your cup each day.
As we experienced the power of focusing on local, sustainable agriculture to improve the lives of farmers, their families’ and communities’, we wanted to do some of this work in Louisville. We wondered if we could turn the 60 tons of coffee grounds we produced (and threw away) in our cafes into a resource to help this community. In 2006, we created Breaking New Grounds, a 501(c)3, that collects our coffee grounds and other local food waste, makes worm compost out of it and sells the compost in our stores. All proceeds from these sales go to the non-profit to build and support an urban farm that’s growing food and jobs in one of Louisville’s food deserts. This dream is now a growing reality.
We’re proud of some the collaborations with local and regional non-profits we’ve created. We named one of our special coffees, Ronda’s Blend, after a friend and co-worker who was killed in a car accident. A portion of the sales of this coffee support The Center for Women and Families here that helps women and children in abusive relationships to make a new start in life. We donate a portion of the sales of our Mountain Dream coffee to Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, an organization working to end mountaintop coal removal. Over the years, many thousands of our customers’ coffee dollars have helped support these and other local organizations.
In 2010, we cofounded our second non-profit, 15Thousand Farmers, to help individuals all across Louisville take a small step together to change their lives and those of their families and community by growing food simply at home or in their neighborhood. This is a great way for all of us to create some good news together and have fun doing it. The community has taken this organization and vision on powerfully.
We opened our ninth Louisville store in April 2011. The best part of our stores is the people. Our eclectic, creative and friendly staff of more than 150 people is the real secret to our success. After all, they are the folks that make visits to our stores magical. And through their creativity, intelligence and good humor, they are the pulse of each store’s life. They create magic and transformation every day for our customers and the community.
GARY HEINE
Opening and running Heine Brothers’ Coffee has been a dream, an incredible adventure. This adventure starts in our stores and their neighborhoods and extends around the world to the amazing and hardworking farmers who grow our magical fair trade and organic coffee high in the mountains near the equator. The secrets to our success are our 100 + employees – an incredible collaboration of talented, creative, fun and inspiring people. Thanks to my family, my four children, Cleo, Sam, Gwen and Jacob, my friends, our staff and customers who have supported this dream over the years. Many thanks to Mike Mays, my business partner and co-dreamer. And blessings to the community of kind, caring people who come to our stores and make it easy to come to work.
MIKE MAYS
After a brief stint practicing law, I escaped to the coffee business. I live with my wife, Elizabeth, and our 4 children in Crescent Hill, one of Louisville’s beautiful, historic neighborhoods. Louisville is a wonderful place to raise a family and run a business. I love the coffee shop business because it has given me the opportunity to meet and interact with people of all ages and all walks of life. Additionally, through our green coffee buying cooperative, I’ve been able to visit with and connect to coffee farmers all over the world. It means a lot to me to be part of a business that is having an impact on our local community as well as our planet.
