Paid job training, one cup at a time.
Many Cups is a vocational training program built around mobile coffee and snack carts in Lansing. Our trainees are youth and adults with developmental disabilities. They learn to run a real business on a real street corner, serving real customers, and they get paid for every hour of it.
Every trainee is paid at least minimum wage. No volunteer labor. No unpaid "experience." Ever.
Our carts are not on the street yet. We are raising the funds and building the partnerships to launch our first cart, then grow to three. This page is where you can follow along and help us get there.
Each trainee moves through an 18-week paid program in three tiers, at a pace that fits them.
Tier 1 · Weeks 1 to 6
Running the register, handling cash, food safety, knowing the menu, and serving customers with confidence.
Tier 2 · Weeks 7 to 12
Scheduling shifts, tracking inventory, cutting waste, and leading a team of peers.
Tier 3 · Weeks 13 to 18
Profit margins, taxes, suppliers, permits, and finding a good location: what it takes to run a cart of your own.
We are planning about 100 service days a year on weekends, plus downtown community events like the Pride parade and the Juneteenth festival. Every sale helps keep the program running.
$46,500
That puts three fully equipped carts on the street: carts, espresso machines, grinders, generators, water systems, and point-of-sale. After that, the biggest cost is the one we are proudest of: paying our trainees.
Get updates when the carts hit the street and when trainee applications open.
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