Mike and Kelly Donaldson opened Yellow Bird Coffee House in Springfield, Ill., after spending a combined 48 years in the military.
Chain coffee shops have curb appeal but little style. Hipster joints overcharge only to judge customers who prefer milk that comes from cows. There’s the occasional local coffee spot with newspapers and old men lying around, but they’re harder to find.
Meet a new class of roasters, one that doesn’t fit any of these stereotypes: Veterans. Since 2014, when veteran-owned chains Black Rifle Coffee Co. and Compass Coffee gained popularity, retired servicemen and women have been opening coffee shops nationwide. Springfield, Ill., coffeehouse owners Mike and Kelly Donaldson helped explain the phenomenon.
“I started drinking coffee when I was 18 years old on active duty and it was the only thing hot that we had in the field,” Kelly said. “That’s where Mike started drinking coffee, too. In the army, when you’re eating [MREs], a lot of times the only thing that they’d ever bring out hot to you was coffee.”
The couple has over 48 years of combined military service. They opened their remodeled 1890s shop, Yellow Bird Coffee House, on Valentine’s Day in 2021 to celebrate their shared love of coffee. Mike, a history buff, and his wife Kelly, “one hell of a baker,” said coffee kept them connected overseas.
“Whenever I was in Afghanistan, Kelly would send me coffee. It was a huge event whenever I got my care packages from Kelly because everybody knew there was going to be good coffee,” Mike said.
Kelly spent 20 years in the military on active duty and in the National Guard, originally as a medic. She finished her degree and became a registered nurse during her time in the Army, then retired as a captain in 2014. Mike retired as a command sergeant major after almost 29 years of service.
“I’m an infantry guy: black coffee, one sugar. Kelly is definitely more open to coffee,” Mike said. “On our travels throughout the world, we’ve been to quite a few places and coffee has always been a common ground.”
Service runs deep for the Donaldsons. Kelly worked as a frontline nurse during the Covid pandemic, a position she’s kept in addition to opening the shop. The couple said they use the logistical and people skills they learned in the military every day. Along with having five children and two grandchildren, home-making their fan-favorite cinnamon rolls, and owning a five-acre ranch that supplies their business with free-range eggs, milk, and honey, the couple also rent out two upstairs apartments to traveling nurses.
Military memorabilia fills the coffeehouse’s walls; Mike’s grandfather and great grandfather and Kelly’s brother, father, and grandfather all served in the military, and all have their photos displayed at Yellow Bird. The name itself is an homage to their background — “Yellow Bird” refers to a well-known and “inappropriate” cadence in basic training, which Kelly said gives their Army friends a laugh when they visit.
“The military is weird in the fact that you do your 20 to 30 years and you go to work for somebody else. I worked for the Illinois Department of Transportation for a short time, overseeing all their facilities procurement and their inventory. I enjoyed it, but it just wasn’t the military,” Mike said. “After leaving the military there’s just nothing like it. That’s what kind of led us to this — we wanted to do our own thing.”