Nicole Shifflett brings to Branches a deep understanding of young people who can sometimes find themselves overlooked when it comes to employment. Through her therapy practice, Roots, Nicole works with young people with disabilities and those who face disadvantages in the workplace.

Through that work, she saw firsthand the gap between having the desire and ability to work and having employers willing to create meaningful opportunities.

The idea for Branches grew from a simple but powerful question: What if a coffee shop could become a place where people with and without disabilities could work side by side, develop skills, build confidence, and contribute meaningfully to their community?

That question became a vision. Branches was created with the goal of providing employment and training opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities while creating a welcoming environment for everyone who walks through the door.

It is a mission that gives the business its heart. And it makes the name Branches particularly fitting. A branch grows from a common root, reaching outward in its own direction while remaining connected to something larger.

Kevin Murphy brings an entirely different—and wonderfully unexpected—piece of the story. Before becoming a coffee entrepreneur, Kevin spent years in the technology industry. But long before that career began, as a teenager, he had an experience that would eventually help shape his path toward Branches.

Through a program called Amigos, he spent six weeks living on a coffee farm in Costa Rica. There, coffee wasn't simply something poured into a cup at the beginning of the day. He experienced coffee at its source.

He learned about growing and processing coffee and discovered firsthand how cultivation and processing affect the quality, character, and flavor of the finished product.

Years later, when Nicole and Kevin began talking about creating a business together, their seemingly different passions began to fit together beautifully.

Nicole understood the importance of meaningful work, inclusion, and helping young people develop confidence and independence. Kevin understood the fascinating world of coffee—from the farm to the finished cup. Branches Coffee Co. was born where those two passions met.

One of the things that makes Branches special is that it is not simply a place to grab a drink and hurry on to the next destination. It is becoming a gathering place.

Small groups have found a home at Branches, including knitting and needlework groups who meet around a table, work on their projects, share conversation, and enjoy a cup of coffee together.

There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about that scene: people sitting together, making things with their hands, talking and laughing, while the aroma of freshly brewed coffee fills the room.

A book club is in the works for the near future, offering another opportunity for local residents to gather, share ideas, discover new books, and perhaps make some new friends along the way.

That sense of community is an important part of what Nicole and Kevin envisioned when they created Branches. A coffee shop can certainly serve good coffee. But it can also serve as a third place—a comfortable space between home and work where people can gather, belong, and build relationships. Branches is growing into exactly that kind of place.

Kevin’s early experience on a Costa Rican coffee farm gave him an appreciation for the journey that coffee takes before it ever reaches a customer's cup. That perspective helps shape the care and attention Branches brings to its coffee program. But perhaps the most compelling thing about Branches is that the mission isn't something added to the coffee shop. The mission is woven into the coffee shop itself.

Every shift can be an opportunity to learn. Every customer interaction can build confidence. Every task completed can represent another step toward greater independence and a stronger sense of belonging. And, every customer who walks through the door becomes, in some small way, part of that story.

Winning the 2026 Wake News & Events Readers’ Choice Award for Best Coffee in Wake County is certainly a celebration of the quality of what Branches serves. But it also feels like a celebration of what happens when a business is built around a bigger idea.

Branches Coffee Co. reminds us that entrepreneurship can be about more than creating a successful business. It can be about creating a place where people are seen for what they can do, where differences don't have to be barriers, and where a simple daily ritual—meeting for coffee—can become an opportunity for connection.

Today, those paths are branching outward into the community. They are found in a cup of coffee shared between friends, around a table where a knitting project is

taking shape, in conversations among needlework enthusiasts, and soon, perhaps, in the pages of a book being discussed by a new group of friends. That is the beauty of Branches.

It is a coffee shop with a purpose, a workplace with a mission, and a gathering place with room for everyone. Something special is taking root in Zebulon. And it is growing—one cup, one conversation, and one connection at a time.