Our Story
In late 2019 Abi & Michael Mattis had an idea. An idea that had been brewing for years. (see what we did there) An idea to serve those who serve the city by doing something for them. An acknowledgement. A thank you. A recognition of who they are and what they do. An encouragement. To champion them and celebrate them in some way. To give back. To honor those that serve tirelessly day after day. They landed on serving them a cup of gratitude, a cup of incredible coffee.
Simultaneously, Abi and Michael pastor Saltbox Church in Wilmington, NC. They knew from experience that Christians and churches often get comfortable within their church world, and can unintentionally become internally focused largely disregarding the non-church-people around them. Charged with that first hand knowledge. Abi and Michael went about galvanizing and energizing church people to engage the city in tangible and practical ways.
After they landed on coffee, they were on a mission to find the perfect truck to breathe life into this vision. After months of searching Abi found a 1966 canary yellow truck for sale in Virginia. On a cold rainy weekend, Michael hitched up a trailer to his truck and headed 8 hours north to pick up the "big bird" as the previous owners had nicknamed her. Amidst strong wind, some hail and driving rain, Michael pulled the yellow truck back and parked the truck in their garage for a few months as the specifics of “serving those that serve our city” came to life. Yellow Truck Coffee Co. was the obvious first choice for a name and the rest is history. They planned to launch in late 2020 but plans changed quickly…
In 2020, the worldwide covid pandemic swept through their city and changed everything. Michael and Abi welcomed their youngest child into the world in March of 2020. While being at the hospital and going in for appointments it became more and more clear that the nurses, doctors, CNA’s, janitorial and hospital staff were discouraged, overwhelmed, and disheartened. Fear of the unknown was prevalent. The yellow coffee truck was not ready. Coffee shipments were delayed. They were still in the initial business planning mode of launching the yellow truck, but with a little help from their friends at Saltbox Church and Vigilant Hope, they launched Yellow Truck Coffee Co. In May of 2020 the little truck rolled on to Gratitude Lane at the hospital each week for several months and served and thanked the medical community with cups of love and glad shouts of encouragement.
From there, they began to import green coffee beans in 150 pound burlap bags from Central and South America, Africa and Indonesia. The roasting, packaging and sale of their own Yellow Truck Coffee began to fund the outreach operations of the truck.
Since their inception in 2020, the Yellow Truck has served thousands of cups of coffee in the Wilmington community. The Yellow Truck rolls up when people need them most. With coffee, thanks, and hugs the Yellow Truck Team champions, celebrates and prays for peoples in times of great need and in times of great joy.
The next step in the vision of the Yellow Truck Coffee Co. is to create franchise opportunities for churches and not-for-profit organizations around the state of North Carolina and potentially around the nation who share the same vision of energizing and galvanizing people to serve coffee and share Jesus in simple and practical ways.
Thank you for being a part of the next chapter in our story. We are so thankful for you!
BE THE CHANGE.
START WITH COFFEE.