Compass Coffee is an American
coffee roaster based in Washington, D.C.[2] It was founded in 2014 and operates in Washington, D.C. and Virginia.[3][4][5] As of June 2024[update], the company has 18 stores.[6]
History
Store in Shaw, Washington, DC
The company was founded by Michael Haft in 2014.[7] Following the Shaw neighborhood store, a second store was opened in the same neighborhood in September 2015.[8] Over the next few years, other stores were opened in Washington DC and Arlington, Virginia.[9][10] The first
drive-through store was opened in October, 2022.[11]
On October 20, 2017, Compass Coffee founder Michael Haft received the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce's Community Impact Award at the 2017 Chamber's Choice Gala.[12] On March 31, 2017, Compass Coffee was featured in DC Mayor
Muriel Bowser's State of the District Address for jump-starting the Made in DC movement and creating jobs in DC.[13]
Partnerships
Compass Coffee has partnered with Dog Tag Bakery, which offers a vocational program teaching disabled military veterans and their caregivers entrepreneurship skills to launch businesses.[14] Compass supplies the bakery with coffee, and Michael Haft serves as a guest speaker with each cohort.[15][16] Compass has also formed partnership with The Corp at
Georgetown University which is a student run organization that teaches students management and leadership shills through operating businesses on campus.[17] Compass has been supplying The Corp since 2015.[17]The Washington Post and Compass Coffee collaborated on "The Post Roast," a coffee blend celebrating The 7 newsletter and podcast, reaching over a million subscribers and recognized as
Apple's top series of 2022.[18]
Impact of COVID-19
In March 2020, Compass laid off 150 of its 189 employees.[19] The remaining 39 staff members had their pay cut to $15 per hour, and 20 of them were tasked to work on the construction of a new roasting facility. The company also eliminated the option for customers to
tip when paying by credit card, further decreasing worker wages. Compass received over $9.9 million in government assistance during this time.[20][21]
Controversies
In May 2024, workers at seven Compass locations announced their intent to unionize with
Workers United.[6] In June 2024, Compass Coffee United accused the company of hiring 124 additional people, including Liz Brown, a lobbyist for
Uber, and
Cullen Gilchrist, the CEO and co-founder of Union Kitchen, and of manipulating schedules retroactively to make it appear as though the newly hired employees were eligible to vote in the union election.[6] In response, US Senator
Bernie Sanders publicly criticized the company on
X (formerly Twitter), labeling the company's actions "totally absurd & disgusting" and calling on the company to "end its union busting."[6][22]