Last May, Brandt Urban made an important work trip.
He traveled from north Texas to Kansas City, Missouri to open a new Howdy Homemade Ice Cream shop.
The shop, with unique ice cream flavors like Dr. Pepper Chocolate Chip, has soared in popularity in recent years. It was time to take the shop to the Midwest.
So Urban, who has been with the company for 10 years, traveled with founder Tom Landis to open the new store and train employees.
Urban is not a typical businessman. He is a 30-year-old man with Down syndrome.
And for Urban, work travel is just another part of a job he loves.
“Howdy is a fun and awesome place. I love all the customers that come in to visit,” Urban told The Pillar. “My coworkers and crazy Tom make the job so much fun, I look forward to coming into work every day.”
Howdy Homemade is a 10-year-old ice cream shop chain which employs adults with developmental disabilities. Last year, Undivided Life, a Catholic consulting firm, became minority owners of the company, with the hopes of taking the successful model national.
With Undivided Life’s partnership, Howdy became one of several Catholic-owned companies committed to hiring adults with disabilities. Leaders at those companies told The Pillar say they have a way to provide meaningful work to adults with disabilities, and a successful business model which provides value to local communities.
‘We start praying that he finds a job’
For adults with disabilities, job hunting is often an extensive process. Finding meaningful work proves even more difficult.
Statistics from the Department of Labor report that in 2024, 22.7% of adults with disabilities were employed, compared to 65.5% of adults without disabilities.
“This job has meant my entire life because no one wants someone with a disability at a job,” Urban explained.
“It is just hard to find a job and when you do find one, it’s not great. I’ve been through several jobs where you are often just in the back kind of hidden, and it didn’t feel right.”
Across the country, families whose children have disabilities struggle to find fulfilling jobs for their children, even if their children are qualified.
That was Mike and Terri Fitzgerald’s experience as they aimed to find meaningful work for their now 29-year-old son Patrick, who lives with autism.
On paper, Patrick should have qualified for any job. He attended community college after high school, obtained a food service certificate, had a little experience and qualified for a job coach — yet nobody would hire him.
“He was looking at a lot of different places like pizza shops and nursing homes. We just kept getting ‘no’ from everywhere,” Mike Fitzgerald told The Pillar. “We thought it was that they were just worried that he would need some extra help.”
“But in the meantime, he’s baking these cookies. He’s volunteering at Red Door, which is a homeless ministry, and we start praying that he finds a job.”
Patrick and his family began praying the rosary that he would find work.
Shortly thereafter the family met Father Chris Donley, pastor of Divine Mercy parish in Pittsburgh. Donley had experience supporting a home for children with disabilities in Jamaica. He wanted to bring that mission closer to home, by launching an apostolate for people with disabilities in Pittsburgh.
The Fitzgeralds and Donley conceived the idea for a coffee shop that would sell Patrick’s delicious snickerdoodle cookies, and employ adults with intellectual disabilities.
The coffee shop would operate in the basement of Epiphany Church, a parish located in downtown Pittsburgh.
Thus, Brother Andre’s Cafe was born — named after St. Andre Bessette.
Bessette was a lay brother in the Congregation of Holy Cross. Told he was not smart enough to be a priest, he became a porter, and then a sought-after and famous spiritual director.
Covid forced the opening date to be pushed back, and the organization pivoted to an online bakeshop and apparel store. But in 2021, Brother Andre’s Cafe opened.
Quickly, leaders realized that Brother Andre’s was not simply about giving adults with disabilities a job. Parishioners and leaders received something in return, said Dan Gallagher, the cafe’s executive director.
“A huge percent, more than three-quarters of adults with disabilities, are not working, and there’s a huge need,” Gallagher said. “Once they become adults, there’s not a lot for them and they don’t have a place. So we’re providing them that place, and they’re giving us way more. We are giving them a job and they’re giving us Christ.”
Kevin Loiselle, a 38-year-old with cerebral palsy and cognitive delay, has worked at Brother Andre’s for four years.
Previously, he worked as a teacher’s aide at a local public school, but says the cafe job has offered him the opportunity to learn new skills, and to live out his Catholic faith at work.
“I love to talk to the customers and stuff, I just love talking to people in general. I just love standing behind the bar in the coffee house and greeting people as they walk in,” Kevin Loiselle told The Pillar. “Every shift, I get to pray with my coworkers and that’s different from a school setting, of course which I really appreciate.”
Last year, Justina Duffy, a 22-year old with Down syndrome, started working at Brother Andre’s second location at Assumption Church. She said the community has changed her, providing her with a vibrant community and new friends.
“I like taking people’s orders. I am learning a lot of new skills and I am doing a lot of fun things,” Duffy said. “I really like the people I work with, and the dance parties we have at work.”
Building a community for team members is a huge emphasis at the cafe. Every day, employees have the opportunity to pray together and every week there is a social activity — like a dance party. Once a month, the parish hosts a Brother Andre’s Mass, where employees plan and participate in the liturgy.
Bridgette Pepmeyer, Brother Andre’s full-time occupational therapist and Kevin’s twin sister, said that those moments for community are intentional — as is every decision made at the shop.
“Every decision is with them and with Jesus in mind, this is a very Christ-centered place,” Pepmeyer told The Pillar.
“Every employee is expected to do prayer time every shift. We have these monthly Masses at the Epiphany Church with our team members, we want them to realize that they are fully part of that parish.”
“From the display of the register, which software we use, which machine we use, how much space is in the cafe behind the bar, which ingredients, how our menu looks, every decision considers our team,” Pepmeyer added.
This intentionality and care has left an impression on employee’s families, who say that Brother Andre’s is not just a job, rather it has become a family that supports one another.
“As a parent, the cafe feels like a family,” April Duffy, Justina’s mom told The Pillar. “We all have so much in common even though our kids have different disabilities. As a parent, it is nice to know that you have a support system there, not only for your child at work, but as a whole, as a family unit that you can reach out to.”
“We are all in this together.”
Down south, the same transformation has occurred at Howdy, where a simple ice cream shop has grown into a community affair, with regulars coming in to see the employees, and the company now looking to add six new stores in the Dallas-Forth Worth area and more across the country.
“Our success has nothing to do with me,” Landis said.
He turned to Urban: “Do people come into the restaurant to see me, or to have our ice cream, Brandt?”
“No!” Brandt interjected. “They come to see my beautiful face!”
To Urban, the customers have become family, and Howdy has become a cornerstone in his life.
“It is a lot of fun and I love to do everything from the cash register to scooping ice cream, making ice cream, making waffle bowls,” Urban said. “But really, I just love the people I work with and I look forward to coming to work every day.”
A unique business model
Brandt’s company loyalty, Landis said, is shared by most of his coworkers, a unique upside to this business model.
“Brandt and the heroes at Howdy have a sense of loyalty to Howdy that Jerry Jones only wishes he could get out of the (Dallas) Cowboys. The moment a Dallas Cowboy gets a bigger offer, he’s going somewhere else,” Landis said.
“But Brandt, over 10 years, he and his family have sacrificed a lot for the company and I think it is because he and our other heroes feel welcomed and supported here.”
“What we’re really showing is what grace upon grace can do.”
Howdy has grown significantly since its founding in 2016 — the company currently operates seven stores, with an eighth location to be announced February 8th. Last year, Landis sought help to grow Howdy, turning to Undivided Life, a Catholic strategy consulting firm, for guidance.
While Undivided Life was initially brought on as consultors, as CEO Jeff Schiefelbein, learned more about the mission of Howdy, he believed the company was worth investing in. Undivided Life became a minority owner shortly thereafter, hoping to help expand the company into a national brand.
“We loved the mission, we loved the company, we loved that it wasn’t even like a handout, that it offered a super premium experience and product. We loved it all,” Schiefelbein told The Pillar.
Undivided Life also saw it as an opportunity to live out the Church’s call to offer dignified work to all people.
“One of the things the Catholic Church gets right is an understanding of man’s relationship to work and the fruits of giving dignified work to adults of any background,” Schiefelbein added. “Dignity and subsidiarity and purpose and work at any level helps to form us, and it helps us to evangelize.”
Offering dignified work to adults with disabilities has become an opportunity for other Catholic businesses to give back to the community, while gaining high-caliber employees.
Scott Williams, CEO and Founder of Catholic Creations, a company that operates brands like Sock Religious, hired two adults with disabilities a few years ago. While the company’s mission is not explicitly to hire adults with disabilities, the employees have brought immense value to the company and its culture.
“At our regular meetings our team members will call out people who lived out our five core values. I don’t think there’s a week that goes by that, you know, somebody doesn’t mention Connor or Mary, our employees with disabilities, for the joy that they bring to our organization,” Williams told The Pillar.
“Connor and Mary are so consistent, they are hardworking. But more than anything, they bring an immense amount of joy to everyone that works here.”
While many companies are reluctant to hire employees with special needs, Williams has found that incorporating them into the company is not difficult, it just requires intentionality.
“It is not as difficult as people think,” Williams said. “If you have well-documented processes, if you communicate expectations, if you are making sure that those things are known and that you hold people accountable for that, it is a lot easier than people think.”
At Brother Andre’s, in an uber-competitive coffee shop market, the unique mission provides a competitive advantage, as the shop’s customer service distinguishes them from chain coffee shops.
“The cafe industry is hard to enter, in general. We have, from a business perspective, some built-in inefficiencies, but we also have some things that other cafes don’t have,” Gallagher said. “We have people that can deliver joy and love in a way that I can’t. And we also have amazing people that are mission-driven, that want to be behind the bar, helping to support them. There’s a different feel altogether in our cafe.”
At the cafe, team members with disabilities have a lot to do: taking orders, greeting customers, baking goods, and making lattes. Managers try to find jobs well-suited t0 each team member while looking for opportunities to help them learn new skills and step outside of their comfort zone.
“Bridget, our occupational therapist, has been amazing and she’s worked with each of those team members to develop plans for them,” Fitzgerald said. “Some of them are higher functioning, others not as high functioning. But for all of them, they’re making incredible progress.”
“As a parent, it is just so neat that he will go back behind the bar and wait on a customer and bake some cookies. It’s just amazing,” Carol Loiselle, Kevin’s mom said.
“People talk about it all the time, there is peace and joy in the shop. The employees are working hard but with a smile on their face all the time, welcoming the customers, cleaning, baking, and waiting on customers.”
“It’s just a great place.”
An evangelical act
While these companies are first and foremost businesses that provide employment opportunities for adults with disabilities, leaders see their stores as evangelization opportunities.
Located in the basement of two Pittsburgh parishes, Brother Andre’s welcomes parishioners after Mass while doubling as a connection point between the community and the church.
“The parish communities at both locations have really embraced our team members and the mission,” Fitzgerald said. “Even the locals that come into the cafe have been so supportive of us and the cafe connects them to the Church.”
“After Mass we will have 100, 200 people down here, hanging out, we will throw out coffee, make lattes and put out drip coffee. Usually, we have to turn out the lights to get people to start leaving because there’s a sense of community at the parish that has rallied around, of course, the liturgy and Christ present in the Eucharist, but in a unique way, around Brother Andre’s,” Fitzgerald added.
The cafe has even spurred some customers to return to the faith.
“Customers are encountering something special and hopefully they know it’s God’s love,” Pepmeyer said.
“One of our very first customers was a fallen-away-Catholic. A year after he kept coming to see us for coffee, he came down and he said, ‘I just went to confession for the first time in 30 years’.”
“We all celebrated and were so excited for him. It’s a very special place. Jesus is very palpable here.”
Schiefelbein sees Howdy and future expansions as a pro-life apostolate, with stores and their employees shining light on the dignity of all life.
“In Howdy Homemade, we are able to gather together and do work that is a tangible and meaningful way to live a pro-life message that is absolutely impacting culture,” Schieflebein said. “You see it every day when somebody’s at the store and they get to experience one of our heroes serving them ice cream. These stores are promoting the dignity of all life.”
The employees appreciate that these companies have given them a way to show the world their gifts. From settling new business deals to scooping ice cream, working at Howdy has taught Urban that he can do anything. Now, he has his sights on becoming a music producer in Nashville.
“I want to make music and move to Nashville, Tennessee to show everyone that a person with Down syndrome does music,” Urban said. “The world needs to know that even people with disabilities can work, can do music, and can have an entire life.”
“Working at Howdy has shown me that anything is possible.”
I was hoping Brother Andre’s would be mentioned! ❤️
What a beautiful set of apostolates!