Coffee Shop Set Up to Aid Military Personnel and their Families

Coffee Shop Set Up to Aid Military Personnel and their Families

ARGUS OBSERVER

By Larry Meyer

01.21.11

ONTARIO — A new coffee business has been opened near the North Ontario Interchange with a purpose to support programs which help U.S. military personnel and their families, and members of the founding family said the goal is to have a chain of shops with the same purpose. The first Flyboys Coffee opened Jan. 14, next to Love’s Truck Stop and Washington Avenue. It is owned by the Ables family and a close friend, and is operated by family members still living in Ontario. “We’re offering Italian espresso to go,” Cody Ables, who is attending the U.S. Air Force Academy, said. “We are using a bean from Italy,” his mother, Carolyne Ables, said. There are a variety of beverages available, including brewed coffee, mochas, lattes and Italian sodas. She is being joined at the shop by husband, Lennie, and daughter, Hailey. “It will be a family-run business for while,” Carolyne Able said. Inspiration for Flyboys Coffee, came from Lindsay Nyen, a sister, Cody Ables said. His mother, who came up with the name, had managed the bistro at Ontario High School. Ten percent of the profits from the business and eventual franchises will go to support programs for the troops and their families, Cody Ables said. The first two to be the Wounded Warrior Project and the Fisher House Foundation. Other programs will be added later. The Wounded Warrior Project provides programs and services to severely injured service members, according to the organizations Web site. The Fisher House Foundation works to provide homes near military hospitals for military families to be close to loved ones during treatment for wounds, injuries or illness. The families are put up for free, Cody Able said. “It’s a really good program,” he said. Co-owners of the business are Carolyne and Lennie Ables, Cody Ables, his close friend and fellow Air Force Academy cadet Josh Huckabee, and Lindsay and John Nyen. Although this first shop is a family affair — Huckabee is considered part of the family — Cody Ables said he has received a lot of interest from people interested investing in franchises, a lot of them at the academy. “We’re in it for the soldiers and their families,” Cody Ables said. “It was the plan from the very start.” Presently, Flyboys Coffee is open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., but as the business proceeds, the hours may be adjusted.