Overflow Coffee Bar is more than a typical coffee shop. For starters, we give our profits back into the community for non-profit activities. Next, we have a mission that’s more than just selling coffee. Our mission is to give South Loop residents, students and workers the opportunity to change the world. We accomplish our mission through four priorities.
Providing High-Quality Organic and
Fair/Direct Trade Products –
Our products, from t-shirts to salads to coffee, make a real different in the lives of farmers who grow the raw materials, in the lives of the workers who assemble them and for the environment. Our products are also top of the line in terms of quality. We promote fair-labor and environmentally-friendly practices that benefit the entire world.
Community Building –
We help neighbors get to know each other. We bring South Loopers of all different backgrounds and life-stages together and empower them to make their community and the world a better place for generations to come.
Inspiring Volunteerism –
We help South Loopers give back to their community and the world by promoting volunteer activities with non-profits conducting activities locally.
Promoting Local Artists –
We love showcasing local artists through having visual art on our walls, hosting poetry readings, producing theatrical productions, being a venue for musical performances and having open-mic nights.
Overflow Coffee Bar values people, both individually and collectively. We build relationships between employees, customers, the neighborhood and the world at large. The following values work through this web of relationships to bring people together toward accomplishing our mission.
Quality Customer Service –
We serve our employees who in turn serve our patrons. By treating our employees well, we know that they will serve our patrons well. We exceed expectations by providing a great working environment for employees and a clean, comfortable and friendly environment for our patrons. In addition, our products exceed expectations, helping employees take pride in their work and customers feel better served.
Purposeful Living –
Consumers speak with how they spend their money and volunteers speak with their time and talent. People want to make a difference but often do not know how. We want to educate and inspire living lives of purpose with time, talents and money. As owners, Brandon and Amanda Neely are modeling purposeful living by pouring their energy and resources into Overflow and by using the profits for non-profit activities. They hope to be examples for others to follow.
Creativity –
World changing messages are communicated through some form of art. We value these expressions and their power to question assumptions and create solutions. We want to support local artists who have unique perspectives on the world and are looking for ways to communicate those perspectives.
Holistic Approach –
Overflow uses a holistic approach to addressing world issues and issues within our neighborhood.
- We’re not just focusing on one or two issues because the issues are connected with one another. For example, a coffee farmer personally experiences the injustice of slavery and often is connected with other injustices like lack of access to education and political corruption. South Loopers also face these same things right in our own backyard.
- Just as we must approach the issues holistically, we must also join together as a community to have a greater impact. We need to integrate and partner. We need to lay aside our own agendas and seek the greater good as one voice and one heart made up of the diversity within our neighborhood.
Overflow Coffee Bar’s vision is to see a community of South Loopers actively involved in making positive changes for our neighbors next door and around the world. We wish to be seen as a true “third place.” Overflow is the place in the South Loop where people feel at home when they are outside their homes, where people can work and study in a relaxing atmosphere and where people get engaged in activities that change the world.
At Overflow Coffee Bar, neighbors are neighborly. Overtime, when South Loopers walk into the coffee bar, they feel as though “everybody knows their name” and that they are part of something bigger than themselves. In addition, South Loopers get the deep satisfaction that comes from knowing that they are making a real difference in the world with each purchase they make, with each volunteer opportunity they participate in, and with each artist they admire.