Home at O'Henry's: Former employee-turned-owner Blake Stevens aims to build on company’s community feel

O’Henry’s Coffees, a Homewood institution that helped pioneer the serving of quality coffee in the Birmingham area, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018.

At the time, Randy Adamy — who had owned the business since buying it from the legendary founder, Dr. Henry Bright, in 1999 — told the Homewood Star that the original O’Henry’s on 18th Street South “became a local gathering spot” almost from the time it opened.

The friendly haven also reflected the personality of its founder, according to Adamy. “Dr. Bright was all about relationships with people,” he said. “He wanted people to come to his coffeehouse and meet and talk.”

And longtime patrons should rest assured that the things they love about O’Henry’s, including its warm, community vibe, will not disappear at the beginning of its second quarter-century in business, even after another ownership change.

In November 2019, former O’Henry’s employee and coffee industry veteran Blake Stevens — in partnership with Key7 Investment Co. — bought O’Henry’s Coffees and O’Henry’s Coffee Roasting Co. from Randy and Mary Adamy.

“A customer asked, ‘What will change for me?’’ Stevens said. “I said, ‘We’re still going to have great coffee. We’re not coming in and changing everything.’”

Stevens said he intends to grow the company, including more locations and more outlets for its roasted coffee and other products.

However, he will work hard to stay true to the company’s traditions and maintain the culture and atmosphere that have made O’Henry’s a part of the community’s fabric.

After all, O’Henry’s has an irreplaceable mood and feel, according to Stevens.

“As you come into O’Henry’s, it’s how you feel and the environment, and it’s second to none across the city — the fresh coffee, the smells, the feeling you get when you walk in,” he said.

Stevens wants to maintain what he calls the “special connection” O’Henry’s has to its customers.

“We want to provide an opportunity for everyone to have a great cup of coffee, to meet in a fun, safe place,” he said.

O’Henry’s has four stores, two licensed locations and a roaster serving cafés and retailers across the South.

The company is also opening a new location at Stadium Trace Village in Hoover. The facility was expected to open by the beginning of February, according to Stevens.

The new Hoover store will have “a different feel” than the downtown Homewood location, Stevens said.

“But we will engage the community, serve the same great coffee and have a great atmosphere,” he said.

“That’s really what we wanted to do — build community around coffee,” Stevens said, referring to the vision for O’Henry’s stretching back to Bright.

Stevens worked at O’Henry’s from 1996- 2001 while attending Samford University and became the manager of the Harbert Plaza store downtown.

He then spent 14 years at Starbucks, first as a store manager, then as a district manager.

Stevens helped the chain launch stores and establish its brand in new markets that did not have Starbucks, such as Mobile, Opelika and Columbus, Georgia.

Part of his work involved “being able to show the community that Starbucks was more than a big company, that it had some heart and was hiring local people,” Stevens said.

Most recently, Stevens spent four years working at Birmingham staffing firm The Onin Group.

In November 2018, Stevens began talking to Adamy about working with the company again in some capacity, but these discussions led to him buying the company.

The sale closed Nov. 1, 2019, making Stevens the owner of a company for the first time.

Stevens values his experience working at O’Henry’s in the 1990s, particularly what he calls his “unique opportunity” to work with Bright.

“You see how he loved (the company), how he engaged with his employees, his customers,” Stevens said.

Working at O’Henry’s “was very inviting, very welcoming, and we had our own little family as employees,” Stevens said.

Bright’s family was involved in the business, as was Mary Adamy, Randy Adamy’s wife. Now Steven’s wife, Anna, will be heavily involved.

“We are continuing that tradition of a family team to come together to serve our community,” Stevens said.

His wife formerly worked in film production in California and has worked in the catering and service industries.

“She has a keen focus on doing things right and treating people right,” Stevens said.

In addition to its retail locations, O’Henry’s Roasters sells beans to about 100 customers, mostly in Alabama and around the Southeast.

“We have the freshest roasted coffee in Birmingham,” Stevens said.

The O’Henry’s roasting facility is located at 14 West Oxmoor Road. It has two roasters, a 12-kilogram and a 24-kilogram. With the opening of the Hoover store, Stevens expects to roast close to 150,000 pounds in 2020.

Stevens is committed to continuing to grow the company.

“We are excited about the possibility for growth, both with the roasting facility and our retail locations,” Stevens said.

However, based on his industry experience, Stevens doesn’t want to open too many stores too quickly.

“I was involved when Starbucks opened stores rapidly, and I was there when they closed a bunch of stores,” he said. “I am very cautious and sensitive to that.”

It is also important to maintain the warm, inviting community feel of O’Henry’s, according to Stevens.

"We want to grow that and grow with that in mind,” he said.

Steven’s also wants customers to feel a real bond to their favorite O’Henry’s location.

“We want them to feel that is their O’Henry’s,” he said.

Stevens shared a piece of business philosophy from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz: Success does not equal entitlement.

“We have to win our customers every day,” Stevens said. “We have to win our employees’ respect each day.”

Goals for 2020 also include “really building relationships,” Stevens said, citing the company’s vendors as an example.

They will also focus on “preparing the roastery for growth and streamlining some of our processes and bringing in some technology in the ordering systems,” Stevens said.

The stores will add “a few food options” as well, Stevens said. “We’ll add some different gluten-free stuff and some smaller bites.”

Furthermore, Stevens plans to partner with more local grocery stores and coffee shops to carry O’Henry’s products. And that doesn’t just include the coffee they roast but a wide range of products needed to run a coffee house.

O’Henry’s distributes Ghirardelli Chocolate, Monin syrups, blending beverage bases, alternative milk choices, such as soy and almond, and espresso machines.

“If you want to open up a coffee house in your town, we can fully support you and provide you with the resources you need,” he said.

Stevens expressed confidence in the state of the coffee industry and said that coffee houses have become an integral part of urban culture over the last 25 years.

“My generation was the first coffee-house generation, and my kid’s generation doesn’t know life without them,” Stevens said. “There is a place to get coffee everywhere.

“Those places are not going to go away,” Stevens said. “People want to have that feeling of community and a good atmosphere to have a conversation.”

And this is true despite the electronic age in which we live, according to Stevens.

“In all the screen time, people are still looking for that human interaction in some way,” he said.