[16] 321 Coffee's most recent location – another in-office café at the Relias headquarters in Morrisville, North Carolina – opened in January 2024.

Wrege worked on school projects, participated in dance and sports teams, and went on family outings and vacations with members of the IDD community.

[22][23] Wrege observed that the many activities available to youth in the IDD community dwindled as they approached adulthood; as Wrege began to ponder college and the excitement of the future, she worried about her friends with IDD, having observed firsthand how some of them, despite earning jobs, were only given responsibilities such as cleaning bathrooms or folding laundry.

[24][25] After Wrege and Michael Evans enrolled at N.C. State as Park Scholars in 2017, they discussed the idea of starting a coffee shop that employed people with disabilities.

[19] The pair had been inspired by Bitty & Beau's, a coffee shop with a similar mission in nearby Wilmington, N.C. founded by Amy Wright.

[30] 321 Coffee also employs people with a large range of intellectual and development disabilities, such as autism, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, and DiGeorge syndrome.