A proudly South African coffee company is marking two major milestones this year: its 10th anniversary and the creation of more than 500,000 working hours for members of the Deaf community.

On 8 June 2026, I Love Coffee celebrated a decade since becoming South Africa’s first coffee shop business to employ a majority of Deaf individuals across its network of in-office cafés.

Today, approximately 60% of its workforce is Deaf, helping the company achieve a milestone that equates to around 65 years of continuous employment.

The company says the achievement represents far more than a number, reflecting sustainable careers, greater independence, family support and professional development opportunities for Deaf employees.

“What started as a single coffee shop in a gym grew from a vision to create exceptional coffee and meaningful opportunities for the Deaf community,” said co-founder Gary Hopkins.

“While 500,000 Deaf working hours is a significant milestone, the real achievement is the lives behind that number; careers built, families supported and greater independence created. That’s the impact we set out to make.”

Over the past decade, the business has faced significant challenges, including the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, operations were forced to shut down, threatening years of growth and progress.

Instead of closing permanently, the company diversified its operations by expanding into coffee roasting and establishing a flagship café hub, creating new growth opportunities.

“After five years of building and scaling our cafés, the pandemic tested everything we had built,” said co-founder Mike Morritt-Smith.

“While COVID brought enormous uncertainty, it also pushed us to innovate. We pivoted into roasting, expanded into the UK, established a training academy and built the foundations for international growth. Looking back, one of our greatest challenges became one of our biggest opportunities.”

The company’s international expansion began in 2022 with its entry into the United Kingdom market. A year later, it partnered with WeWork to provide Deaf baristas at four co-working spaces in the UK.

Since then, I Love Coffee has established a UK office and developed strategic partnerships to support further international growth. Its baristas have also earned recognition through industry competitions, while training programmes continue to equip Deaf individuals with valuable workplace skills.

“We’ve never viewed inclusion as a programme or initiative. It’s simply part of who we are,” Hopkins said.

“Our cafés, roastery and training programmes have been built around the belief that talent exists everywhere, but opportunity does not. If we’ve achieved anything over the past 10 years, it’s showing that businesses can be both commercially successful and socially impactful.”

As the company celebrates its 10th anniversary, it says it remains committed to creating inclusive workplaces where Deaf individuals can build fulfilling careers while helping to set a benchmark for diversity, equity and inclusion in the hospitality sector.