This story has been updated.

DeKalb County, GA — Dope Coffee Company will be opening soon on Snapfinger Woods Drive in DeKalb County. The coffee shop will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, Feb. 18 at its new headquarters.

The new 6,000 square-foot facility includes the company’s coffee bean roasting, manufacturing and warehousing operations, a multimedia production facility, offices, a community event space and the Dope Coffee Cafe, according to a press release.

“The facility not only is the home of Dope Coffee, it’s an important and integral extension of the Dope Coffee brand,” said Michael Loyd, founder, and CEO of Dope Coffee Company.

He added that the mission of Dope Coffee is to connect coffee, culture, and hip-hop.

“Our new, fully-integrated facility allows us to do this under a single roof, along with extending it out into the larger world through our sales of Dope Coffee direct-to-consumers via our website and at retail stores throughout the country,” Lloyd said.

The grand opening will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Feb. 18 and will feature various events, including free coffee tastings, a coffee roasting demonstration, live music, and a prize giveaway.

“Dope Coffee is an experience as well as a premium coffee brand,” Loyd said. “Dope is the tantalizing vibe of coffee + hip-hop and we use music to bridge the gap between generations and ethnicities, offering quality that appeals to everyone.”

Dope Coffee Company was founded in 2019 by Michael and Michelle Loyd. In 2020, the company started selling Dope Coffee directly to consumers through its website. The Lloyds fulfilled orders out of their garage. Sales grew rapidly in 2022 and this year, the company is taking its next leap to launch the brand in retail stores.

“We’re taking the Dope Coffee brand to Americans where they live and work by way of launching in retail stores and our first Dope Coffee Experience event at our new home in Decatur will celebrate that, along with celebrating our presence as a vital force in the local community here in metro Atlanta,” Michael Loyd said.

Dope Coffee is about more than just coffee.

“I am really a hip hop native, born in 1984,” Lloyd previously said. “That is what I grew up with, what everyone I know grew up with. And, when you go to a hip hop show, like literally everyone there is from all walks of life. It transcends race and geography. It is an art form that everyone is familiar with, and I wanted to do that with coffee. So, initially [the brand] was about coffee and sharing Black culture and having Black space. But, when we thought more about it, we decided we didn’t want to just make another group. We wanted to break down barriers.”

In addition to organic coffee and coffee products from East Africa and Central America, Dope also produces and promotes local hip hop and visual artists. Stace Loyd, Mike’s cousin and a partner in the business, describes each offering as a “digital cultural product” that also features artwork on the label that ties in with tracks on their self-produced album, Spinach.

Dope Coffee was one of three business chosen to be part of Decatur’s Retail Incubator Program (D.R.I.P.) in 2021. The businesses shared a retail space at 431 W. Ponce for six months as they prepared to open their brick and mortar businesses, Business Development Manager Shirley Baylis previously said.

In addition to the physical space, each business owner was assigned a mentor from an existing Decatur business to help guide them. They participated in training seminars on things like marketing, negotiating commercial leases, human resources, and business accounting and finance, she said.

“Our ultimate goal is to see them go out and open their own space,” she added.

ABETTERBUZZ and Royal Thanaka Skin Care were the other businesses chosen to participate in the incubator program in 2021.

Dope Coffee Company will be located at 5360 Snapfinger Woods Drive, unit 134 in Decatur.

Writer Cathi Harris contributed to this article.

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