Knoxville’s new Haitian-inspired coffee shop made its home on Sutherland Avenue and opened for business on June 24. Co-owners Andi Land and Morgan Benson partnered with Cafe Kreyol, a sustainable Haitian coffee producer, to open Seed Coffee Co. in Marble City.
The company’s primary goal is to bring Knoxville high-quality fair trade coffee while ensuring that the farmers it sources from are paid “more than a living wage,” according to Benson. Seed Coffee also seeks to aid impoverished communities in Haiti through donating 25% of its profits to SEED International, a non-profit organization founded by Benson.
SEED International works in rural communities in Haiti, partnering with people there on education, entrepreneurship and development projects. The organization has recently expanded to the Dominican Republic.
“We’re directly partnered with equitable and fair trade business both in the U.S. and abroad to make sure we’re able to give directly back to the hands that brought us our wonderful coffee,” Benson said. “That’s where our motto ‘from seed to cup’ came from.”
Seed Coffee sells coffee made from organic beans sourced from Haiti and other Caribbean islands. Benson explained that the owners are excited to share their love for Haiti with the Knoxville community through coffee, especially since there is a substantial Haitian community in Knoxville.
“There’s several local organizations who have been supporting Haiti for two decades or more,” Benson said. “As a result, there’s a rather large community of Haitians here in Knoxville as well, some of which have businesses or connections to businesses that will be prominently featured at the coffee shop.”
Benson and Land met while working together at another local coffee shop. They quickly became close friends, and Land has supported Benson and SEED International through photography and social media. When the Sutherland Avenue space became available after the Golden Roast relocated, Land said it felt like the natural next step for the two friends.
“We had always talked about, ‘We should open a business together,’ because we were like if we work this well together, just in living life together and stuff, we could probably do a business,” Land said.
Some of the appeal of local coffee shops to students and working professionals comes from the cozy atmosphere they often create. Both detail-oriented and familiar with interior design, Land and Benson prioritized this concept when designing the layout and color scheme of the space. Creating an “aesthetically pleasing atmosphere” played a large role in their design choices.
Apart from aesthetics, the co-owners also craved to create a comfortable space that members of the community would feel accommodated in.
“We’re hoping that we’ll have an atmosphere that can accommodate working professionals as well as college students, families and anyone in between,” Benson said.
Seed Coffee offers plenty of indoor seating, but the shop also boasts a spacious outdoor patio and is working with Smee and Busby Architects to expand their space, as well.
“We’re hoping to nail down a solid beer list and get a well-curated roster of food trucks to complement the outdoor patio for people to have a community-oriented space near campus and downtown,” Benson said.
As people bounce back and forth between home and work, Land said it’s important to have an additional space that provides comfort and community. That’s where Seed comes in.
“We are calling this a third space,” Land said. “A third space is a space where they can come and just kind of shed those other things but still be in community.”
Seed Coffee’s mission is rooted in reaching beyond Knoxville to help people in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and other countries, but Benson and Land also have a mission of serving people in Marble City’s own backyard.
“We just want this to be a place that people from all walks of life, all religions, all the things feel welcomed and loved and seen and not judged,” Land said.
Check out Seed Coffee Co.’s website to view their hours and latest menu offerings.
Editor-in-Chief Abby Ann Ramsey contributed to this reporting.
Seed Coffee Co., co-owned by Morgan Benson (left) and Andi Land, recently opened on Sutherland Avenue.
