Huskee Cups sit on the counter at the Franklin location of Coffeehouse Five. The reusable cups are part of the local coffeehouse chain’s efforts to reduce their impact on the environment by reducing their use of single-use cups.
Angelica Gonzalez Morales | Daily Journal
Coffeehouse Five is brewing up change. The Johnson County coffeehouse chain is planning a new location Bargersville and has launched a reusable cup program.
For the past year, Coffeehouse Five owner Brian Peters has been planning to open a third location in Bargersville. The coffeehouse currently has two locations in both Old Town Greenwood and downtown Franklin.
“We noticed Bargersville is growing and it’s always been our desire to grow and reach out to other communities,” Peters said.
The new coffeehouse will be located at 10 Plummer Avenue in Bargersville, will have a similar style compared to the current coffeehouses. The Bargersville location will have the same menu and offerings as well, Peters said.
There is one new feature that will set the Bargersville shop apart.
“We are working right now for an outdoor space, which our current locations don’t have, which it will be neat to have with Bargersville outdoor seating,” Peters said.
Peters is expecting the new shop to be open before the end of the year, he said.
Peters is also focusing on new ways to make the coffeehouse greener — reusable cups.
Several years ago at a trade show, Coffeehouse Five staff were introduced to the concept of HuskeeSwap, a cup exchange program, which was created to make reusable cups more user-friendly and steer away from single-use disposable cups. Huskee cups are named for a raw material that is incorporated into the cup — the husk that is removed from green coffee beans after harvest.
Huskee cups are currently offered at both the Greenwood and Franklin locations, and is the start of the business’s planned move away from single-use cups, Peters said.
A customer can purchase a Huskee cup with a lid on their next visit to Coffeehouse Five to participate. Each time a customer returns to a Coffeehouse Five location staff will exchange their dirty cup with a clean and sanitized Huskee cup filled with their new beverage. The customer can repeat the process each visit.
“With climate change and all the impact it has, a coffee shop with disposable cups can make a huge impact on the environment and become a large number (of waste) … We’ve been looking for a way to address this issue,” he said.
The cups come in 12 and 16 ounce sizes that work with cold and hot drinks. When swapping the Huskee cups the sizes are interchangeable, Peters said.
“We’ve received great response from the customers and they believe it’s a great program,” Peters said.
The cups themselves are also recyclable. As part of the Huskee Swap program, the cups are recycled by Huskee US at the end of their usable life and recycled into new products, according to a press release.
Single-use, disposable cups are still being offered at Coffeehouse Five locations, but customers who want to help make an impact on the environment can purchase a Huskee cup.
