Not Your Average Joe’s Norman location will leave campus after five years due to a non-renewal of its lease, according to Tim Herbel, founder and executive director.
“Where do we go to dispense caffeine and hope?” Herbel said. “You do not want to be where you are not wanted, … and we are not wanted here.”
Not Your Average Joe is currently under a five-year lease with Alameda Church of Christ and rents part of a building shared with the church’s ministry, Sooners for Christ. Not Your Average Joe was informed in an email last summer that the five-year lease would not be renewed.
According to Herbel, the email stated the church needed the space back for its ministry. Herbel met with the on-campus pastors to ask if they could speak to their leadership again, but the nonrenewal of the lease appears to be final, according to Herbel.
“The only reason you expect a renewal not to go through is if somebody does something illegal or immoral; you anticipate them going through, …” Herbel said. “We would love to have an opportunity to create a win-win, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards at the moment.”
OU Daily reached out to a representative of Alameda Church of Christ, but he declined to interview.
Not Your Average Joe is an Oklahoma-based nonprofit coffee company that hires employees who are neurodivergent or have some form of disability.
According to Herbel, with the lease termination deadline approaching, employees will be without a job, and many will face additional challenges finding employment.
Herbel said his other Not Your Average Joe locations in Oklahoma City and Tulsa and the Norman location of Stella Nova, a coffee company donated to Not Your Average Joe, are not equipped to take in 30 new workers, especially those who require more assistance.
“I'm going to advocate for those with disabilities in any and all spaces, …” Herbel said. “We have got to find a location if we want to employ the 30 people here and keep the same spirit and everything else.”
Not Your Average Joe has been able to stay involved on campus, hiring many students and faculty members’ children who have disabilities.
Not Your Average Joe has served Norman for five years. Because of its proximity to campus, Herbel said the organization has catered Norman’s past two ESPN College GameDays and fostered community for international students.
“We’re a football throw away, …” Herbel said. “(OU recruits) just get to experience not only world-class coffee, but an inspiring atmosphere. It's a great place to study and hang out. We look forward to creating that space in another building, or that same environment in another building close by.”
Herbel said when he broke the news to his employees that the location would be closing soon, there were a lot of emotions.
“When the staff found out recently, there were lots of tears, lots of not understanding, maybe even a little anger, to be fair, because we have tried to not just be hospitable to the campus, but to the church as well and to their ministry,” Herbel said.
Two baristas, Lark Feille, who has worked with Not Your Average Joe for just under 3 years, and David Manning, who has worked with Not Your Average Joe for 4 years, said the shop was important to them and their customers.
Feille said she fell in love with Not Your Average Joe’s mission at a philanthropy event at her high school. She is now a freshman at OU who continues to work as a barista.
“I saw it with my high school friends, and then just with my college friends, the way their hearts are softened by the mission, …” Feille said. “I mean, I've met some of my best friends here. I'm in the major I'm in because of someone I met while I was working here.”
Manning said he has worked at the Norman location for over a year since moving from the Midtown location, where he worked for three years. The Norman location is important to him because it serves international students by hosting lunches every Friday. Manning said his grandmother, Lois Cox Marshall, is on Not Your Average Joe's board of directors and sponsors the lunches.
“Friday at noon, international students from everywhere, Bolivia, Colombia, Iran, everywhere. (Marshall) pay(s) for their dinner and coffee, and it's awesome,” Manning said. “It's such a great spot that's really just being stripped away.”
Manning shared his confusion about why the lease would not be renewed for such an important spot on campus.
“Why would you purposely cut off an outlet to people from all over the world, you know, where they can gather and talk and have communion?” Manning said.
Mollie Marks, Stella Nova manager, is currently working at Not Your Average Joe, observing if they can move any workers to the Norman Stella Nova.
She expressed her fondness for the staff and how integrated the Norman location is to the core mission. She said Stella Nova is a quicker pace than Not Your Average Joe, so it would be an adjustment for some of the workers.
“I think it's sad just because I feel like (Not Your Average Joe has) been here for so long, and they're very integrated into this building and in the community, …” Marks said. “There's so many good people that work here, so we just want to protect those people.”
In order for Not Your Average Joe to remain in the heart of campus, it needs to find a new location quickly. Herbel shared the difficulties the shop faces as a nonprofit, as the cost of business is much higher than a for-profit business. Additionally, with the high costs of storefronts near the university, finding another location close to campus is difficult.
Not Your Average Joe’s next move, according to Herbel, is to find a place that is affordable, or a place where a landlord could work with them on an adjusted gross rent.
“This is our most whimsical, hope inspiring location and we want to keep that,” Herbel said. “If the campus community has ideas for location, if they want to help us raise enough money to afford a different type of location that currently hasn't been a part of possibility, that, you know, a lot of us doing a little could change that, right?”
Herbel has not launched an official campaign to raise money. He had hoped to identify a location by the end of last semester.
Although they do not have an official campaign, Not Your Average Joe is accepting donations through its website, and all tips, leads and partnership offers can be sent to Tim Herbel at tim@nyaj.coffee.
This story was edited by Macey Thaxton, Natalie Armour, Madisson Cameron and Audrey McClour. Tori Pham and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
