Featured Business: Durango Joe's Coffee

By Sara Lynn Valentine

‘LOVE PEOPLE LOVE COFFEE’ is the motto that has driven Durango Joe’s success story since since its inception in 2004.“We believe everyone deserves a smile, a warm greeting and a great cup of coffee,” says Joe Lloyd, owner and founder (with his wife LeAnna). Celebrating 20 years as a popular, home-grown Durango institution, Durango Joe’s has expanded from its original address on College Drive to a total of five Durango locations, plus five more in Aztec and Farmington.


“So much has happened during the past three years,” Joe says. “We came out on this side of Covid with a lot of changes in how we approach hiring and retaining staff. The biggest challenge was getting our workforce back. It was really hard for a couple of years just to keep our stores open. Last summer we started seeing a shift to people wanting to come back to work. We finally are now able to run all our locations with normal hours. The second big challenge for us - and probably every food industry in town - is that the cost of doing business since Covid has skyrocketed. Insurance, the cost of coffee, cups to serve it in - just about everything shot up 30% over the past three years! Every restaurant in town is facing this problem. At Durango Joe’s, we’re making some changes in our food service to stay competitive. I had my own bakery before, but I just can’t cover the costs anymore of running it. Larger companies can make a huge volume and charge less. We’re now getting our burritos from an all-natural burrito maker and can pass on the savings to our customers. We’ll be offering a lot more variety in foods, including a whole line of breakfast sandwiches for under $5.00. This is what’s been keeping me busiest, along with offering a new, interactive Durango Joe’s app, so we can thank our customers for their loyalty with points that earn them free drinks and other rewards.”

Both longtime and new customers cite the warm welcome and focused, personal service they receive at Durango Joe’s as a reason they return again and again. “We look for staff that want more than just a job,” Joe says. We hire people who truly care about others and want to make a positive difference in each customer’s day. I can train anybody to make good coffee. But I can’t train people to have that caring spirit.” Customers also appreciate that every cup of coffee they buy at Durango Joe’s factors into the donation budget Joe sets each year to support the community, including the Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Adaptive Sports, Alternative Horizons, The San Juan Symphony, The Durango Arts Center, Fort Lewis College, San Juan Medical Foundation, Durango Film, Rotary, Kiwanis, the Liberty School scholarship program for dyslexic students, and many more local non-profit organizations.
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“Being part of the Durango Chamber has created community for me,” Joe says. “It has been great to be involved with other local businesses and other business leaders. The networking opportunities, the professional groups, and the leadership programs the Chamber spearheads are so beneficial.”
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To reach Joe, call (970) 259-1808 or email [email protected]. Learn more at DurangoJoes.com

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