Joe Coffee Company

Overview

Joe Coffee was founded in 2003 by Jonathan Rubinstein, a former Manhattan talent agent, with his immediate family — his sister Gabrielle managed, his mother poured espresso, his father did the books — at the corner of Waverly Place and Gay Street in Greenwich Village. It was one of a small handful of specialty coffee cafes in Manhattan at the time, alongside Ninth Street Espresso.

Known for

• First major specialty coffee operator in Greenwich Village (2003) and one of the earliest in NYC overall
• Family-founded — Jonathan Rubinstein with sister Gabrielle (catering), mother, and father as initial team
• HACCP-certified roastery in Long Island City
• Backed by Enlightened Hospitality Investments, the Danny Meyer / Union Square Hospitality Group fund
• Joe Coffee partnership rolled out to all U.S. Shake Shack airport and roadway locations plus Grand Central and Penn Station (July 2024)
• Long-running celebrity regulars from the Village — Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Philip Seymour Hoffman; Amy Sedaris baked the early cupcakes

Why it matters

Joe Coffee is the East Coast counterpoint to the West Coast third-wave story — built family-first in a Greenwich Village storefront when New York had almost no specialty culture, scaled deliberately to roughly 24 cafes plus a roastery, and now embedded in Danny Meyer's hospitality network. The Shake Shack airport rollout in 2024 is one of the clearest signals of how a hospitality-led NYC coffee brand monetizes at scale without losing its retail identity.

Production

head roaster

Ed Kaufmann (Director of Coffee, joined when Joe began roasting)

roastery location

HACCP-certified roastery in Long Island City, Queens

annual volume tonnes

null

Café

This roaster operates a café.

Recognitions

• Investment from Enlightened Hospitality Investments (Danny Meyer / USHG fund)
• Joe Coffee rollout to all U.S. Shake Shack airport and roadway locations (July 2024)
• Featured roaster, La Marzocco Home subscription (February 2025)

Sources

• https://joecoffeecompany.com/our-story/
• https://worth.com/how-jonathan-rubinstein-turned-joe-coffee-into-new-yorks-hometown-brand/
• https://www.drinktrade.com/blogs/roasters/jonathan-rubinstein-joe-coffee-interview
• https://www.worldcoffeeportal.com/feature/the-rise-and-rise-of-new-york-specialty-coffee-legend-joe-coffee/
• https://joecoffeecompany.com/looking-back-on-15-years/
• https://godfreydadich.com/work/joe-coffee