ABOUT
MUTTS COFFEE
Welcome to Mutts Coffee! We started as a team of three: Mark, Jaclyn, and Pokey, in late 2020. We had floated the idea for years: combining our wisdom of the coffee industry with our passion of helping dogs by opening our own coffee company. Inspired by our recent rescue dog transport in September of 2020, we returned from our long drive from Alabama, not only with 25 dogs who found homes in Oregon and Washington, but a strong passion to finally jumpstart the coffee company we had been discussing for so long. Mutts Coffee is a bridge of two passions: coffee and dogs!
In 2020, we started by selling freshly roasted coffee to our friends and family. In early 2021, we launched our online store to all states in the U.S. In spring of 2021, we expanded out into local Farmers Markets in the Portland area.
At the beginning of 2022, we signed a lease on a commercial space in Beaverton, Oregon. We had visited the space 6 months prior, hanging the flyer on our refrigerator door and continuing our commercial property search. We found ourselves circling back to the idea of opening a coffeeshop in that particular space because we loved the neighborhood, the close proximity to the city park and library, and the neighborhoods that, at the time, only had a handful of options for coffee. The neighborhood was also a homecoming for Jaclyn, who lived only blocks away from where the space was, while she was a student attending Portland State University. In fact, Jaclyn holds special memory to the building because it used to be home to a vegetarian restaurant and was, at the time, among the very few Beaverton restaurants with vegetarian offerings.
Our buildout had many delays due to supply chain problems, construction worker shortages, and meeting the demands of a first generation conversion to a restaurant space from an office space . We worked through the challenges and in September 2023, we opened our doors officially to our Beaverton community.
Our first year of operation was a slow start as we worked to make connections and build our reputation by word-of-mouth and satisfied customers. We put in long hours and saw that work begin to pay off in 2024 with more and more returning customers. In 2025, we saw tremendous year-over- year growth with over 80% sales growth than the year previous! This allowed us to have our best donation year yet, donating close to $12,000 to our dog rescue partners! We also held many events this year and picked up on our local advocacy work.
In November of 2025, our employee's husband was detained by ICE. We were heartbroken, angry, and we knew we needed to advocate for the safety of our community. This was also at at time where SNAP benefits were delayed and we knew it would be difficult for many pet owners to feed their pets. Our coffeeshop pet pantry was around 5 months old at that time, but we knew we would need to step up and try to increase our reach. That month, we had pet families from all over Washington County, as well as Multnomah County, come to us for assistance with pet food and supplies. Our pet pantry has since grown into a full time operation and distributes hundreds of bags of food, every month. We also host a monthly walk-in where community members can browse through free items such a leashes, collars, harnesses, toys, clothing, husbandry items and more.
At the beginning of 2026, tariffs and supply chain issues impacted our coffee roasting operations with bags of coffee costing 2.5 times the price per bag from what we had paid in earlier years. This, coupled with skyrocketing costs on items like vegetables, milk, and other key essentials to run our cafe, we had to make some strategic decisions to keep our coffeeshop operation running smoothly with as little disruption as possible. We made the decision to shave off two operating hours a day: opening one hour later and closing one hour sooner. This change helped us reduce costs in a meaningful way that would allow us to navigate unpredictable, economic waters ahead. We also faced health issues that limited our ability to do events and forced us to temporary shelf projects that we were hoping to complete in 2026.
Despite the change of hours, we have bypassed our sales from 2025 and hope to have a solid finish as we enter our holiday season. We operate as a team of 7 and show up every day, to serve our community. We look forward to 2027, despite the many challenges that 2026 brought us, and hope to continue to
grow and serve our community here in Beaverton and beyond.
We still run an online coffee shop, to order coffee, visit here, go here.
Your purchases make a difference! Go here to learn more.
MARK
CO-FOUNDER, HEAD ROASTER
As an avid black coffee drinker my whole life, I have always been on the search for new and interesting beans to drink, serve, and tell stories about. That is what got me into the specialty coffee business 20 years ago and kept me on that journey from barista to roaster over the decades. Now as the head roaster of Mutts Coffee, I have the opportunity to share some of those beans and stories with you as I discover them, and help save some dogs in the process.
JACLYN
CO-FOUNDER, OPERATIONS
My introduction to the coffee industry began in 2014 when I found myself wanting to trade in my full time job for something more flexible, while I finished my undergraduate degree in Anthropology at Portland State University.
I took a job as a barista at a local company and quickly worked my way up from barista to area manager, overseeing operations at multiple locations.
What I value about the coffee industry is that it’s fast paced and rapidly changing. Everything we think we know about coffee is always being challenged, forcing us to evolve our own understanding of the coffee world. If we are comfortable, we are probably doing something wrong.
My years of experience in the coffee industry has made me appreciate both the simplicity and complexity of a good cup of black coffee. A black coffee drinker myself, I’ve come to respect the talent that people like my partner Mark (our head roaster for Mutts) have when they can take a sip of coffee and make conclusions like, “I taste apricots and hints of chocolate.”
Though I aspire to one day have a comparable palate, for now, my talent lies with the behind the scenes production of Mutt’s. I also run two separate businesses: scArfs for Rigby and Rigby to the rescue R+ force free dog training, each one encompassing my passion and life’s mission of helping dogs.
Our dream is to one day operate a full scale dog rescue so each of these business endeavors will hopefully inch us closer and closer to making our big dog rescue dream a reality.
POKEY
BRAND AMBASSADOR
Hi there, I’m Pokey and I’m the face of Mutts Coffee. I’m seven years old and have traveled through more states than some of you! I’m from Alabama and now live in Portland, OR with my mom, dad, Betsy, Rigby, and Fudge.
My rescue story started when I was discovered by some nice employees of a nearby business after they had seen me and my sister Elsa, scavenging for food. Some dog rescue folks eventually came out and trapped us and though we were terrified at the time, we had no idea that that would be the day our lives would change forever.
We were in bad shape and our amazing foster mom Ashley took excellent care of us, giving us rigorous baths with medicated shampoos to help us grow our fur back. When I was healed and ready, I caught my freedom ride out west and made a 2,500 mile journey to Oregon.
My mom met me at transport and I was carried straight off the bus and into her arms. She said she was just fostering me but I knew in time I would work a number on her heart and that I would become what the rescue people call a “foster fail.” My sister Elsa joined me about a month later since she had to stay behind and continue treatment. She went on to find her perfect family but I was already home.
I now spend my days championing for Mutt’s everywhere and I myself am what we call a “super mutt.” Am I a beagle? Am I a Catahoula? No one really knows.... but one thing is for certain, I am the very best Mutt and am loved so, so much by my family. I sleep every night at the foot of my human’s bed and never have to worry about where my next meal will come from.
I feel very lucky because I know if the nice people at Free State Four Paws hadn’t saved me, I probably wouldn’t have made it. But because they gave a Mutt like me a chance, I am now a company ambassador for rescued Mutts everywhere. Because, Mutt’s RULE!