We Serve Coffee operated for roughly 12 years before announcing it would close its doors on December 23, 2025

We Serve. Coffee, a community-focused café in downtown Findlay, Ohio, operated for roughly 12 years before announcing it would close its doors on December 23, 2025. Open since February 2013, the shop became known not only for its specialty coffee and food, but for channeling its proceeds to local and global charities and creating a gathering place rooted in service.​

A decade of service

We Serve. Coffee opened in February 2013 at 114 E. Sandusky Street in downtown Findlay, positioning itself as a cozy, community-centered coffeehouse with an emphasis on high-quality, specialty-grade coffee. Over the years it developed a loyal following for its homemade pastries, panini, soups, salads, and a rotating selection of coffees and seasonal drinks.​

Owned by Jack Winans, the shop faced the same mounting pressures as many small businesses, including rising costs and increasing competition in Findlay’s growing coffee scene. Even as new cafés opened around it, We Serve. Coffee held onto a distinctive identity: a place where regulars knew the owner and staff by name and where “Uncle Jack” became part of customers’ life events, from first dates to weddings and birthday parties.

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Coffee with a mission

From its early days, We Serve. Coffee was designed around a charitable model, directing its proceeds to a wide range of nonprofit causes rather than focusing solely on profit. Reviews and local coverage highlight that the café donated 100% of its proceeds to charities, supporting organizations such as Open Arms, Mission Possible, Cancer Patient Services, the American Heart Association, and the Hancock County Humane Society, as well as local school and community fundraisers.​

Customers often described the experience as paying typical café prices while knowing their purchases would help others, blending everyday coffee runs with a sense of purpose. In addition to monetary giving, the shop regularly provided donated food and coffee for community events like National Night Out, golf outings, school fundraisers, and awareness campaigns hosted in the café’s space.

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A hub for community life

Beyond its charitable model, We Serve. Coffee functioned as a neighborhood hub where community groups, friends, and families gathered. The cozy, eclectic interior and friendly staff drew praise from visitors, who noted the welcoming atmosphere, attentive service, and the sense that the café “felt like home.”​

Regulars used the space for everything from casual meetups to dates, baby showers, and milestone celebrations, reinforcing its role as more than just a place to grab a drink. The café also supported local initiatives and awareness efforts, partnering with groups that used the shop as a venue to collect donations and host special events tied to community causes.​

localcoffeeshops.org

Closing the doors, continuing the mission

In November 2025, Winans announced that We Serve. Coffee would close its physical location on December 23, citing the “extremely increased cost of doing business” and the challenges of operating a small café in a more crowded market. As the final day approached, the shop began scaling back parts of its menu and cautioned that hours might fluctuate to support staff during the transition.​

Even as the doors closed, Winans expressed plans to continue offering bagged coffee online, with local delivery and shipping options for out-of-town supporters who wanted to keep the connection alive. He also emphasized taking time to focus on health, marriage, family, and discerning the next chapter, trusting that the same faith that shaped the café’s service ethos would guide whatever came next.

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An enduring local legacy

Over its lifespan, We Serve. Coffee is estimated to have donated around $125,000 to charitable causes, a remarkable figure for a single independent café in a small Midwestern city. That giving, combined with thousands of daily interactions over coffee, helped weave the shop into Findlay’s civic and spiritual fabric in ways that extended far beyond its storefront.​

For many residents and visitors, memories of We Serve. Coffee will be tied to small but meaningful moments—a free cup poured during a fundraiser, a conversation with staff on a difficult day, or a special Saturday morning breakfast with someone they loved. Though the scrambled remains of weservecoffee.org now hint at a chapter that has closed, the impact of those years of service continues in the organizations it supported and in the lives that were quietly changed, one cup at a time.​