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Actor,
entrepreneur
Hill
Harper
buys
Detroit
Roasting
Plant®,
provides
opportunity
to
Detroit’s
youth
DETROIT
-
Award-winning
actor,
author
and
entrepreneur
Hill
Harper,
whose
acting
credits
include
CBS’
CSI: NY
and
Showtime’s
HOMELAND
among
numerous
other
notable
television
and film
roles,
has
taken
over as
owner of
Downtown
Detroit’s
Roasting
Plant®
Coffee.
Harper,
an
honors
graduate
of both
Brown
University
and
Harvard
University,
has long
used his
platform
as a
celebrated
actor
and
writer
to work
in
support
of
underserved
youth
through
his
Manifest
Your
Destiny
Foundation.
Harper
is now
widening
his
reach
and
providing
tactical
work
skills
and
professional
growth
opportunities
for
Detroit’s
youth
through
his
ownership
of the
city’s
Roasting
Plant
Coffee.
“Detroit
is a
great
American
city
that was
forged
on
innovation,
social
enterprise
and
entrepreneurship.
My
ownership
of
Roasting
Plant
Coffee
in
downtown
Detroit
builds
upon
that
legacy.
It is
truly an
honor
and
privilege
for me
to help
fuel the
Motor
City,
not just
with
Roasting
Plant’s
incomparable
coffee—but
by
providing
career
paths
and
launching
pads to
greater
success
in a
booming
industry
for
young
Detroiters
hungry
for
opportunity
and
active
mentorship,”
said
Harper.
"Having
lived
here
filming
two
movies
in
Detroit
over the
past
four
years, I
have
come to
love
this
city and
its
people.
I
believe
in
Detroit.
It is
truly a
vibrant,
unique
and
great
American
city.”
Harper’s
investment
in
Roasting
Plant
Coffee
is a
hands-on
one,
too. He
recently
purchased
a home
in one
of
Detroit’s
historic
neighborhoods
and has
already
begun
its
restoration.
Harper
plans to
focus on
making
Roasting
Plant’s
job
training
program
a
success
and to
increase
his
involvement
with
local
charitable
organizations.
Additionally,
Harper
is
bringing
his
successful
youth
Summer
Empowerment
Academy
(SEA) to
Detroit
this
summer.
SEA is a
free
high
school
and
college
readiness
program
that
Harper’s
Manifest
Your
Destiny
Foundation
runs in
the most
challenged
areas in
cities
across
the
country.
“We are
very
fortunate
to have
Hill
Harper
as part
of our
community
here in
Detroit,”
said
Mayor
Mike
Duggan.
“Not
just
because
of his
new role
as a
resident
and
entrepreneur
in the
city,
but
because
the
personal
commitment
he
brings
with him
to help
support
and
provide
opportunity
to the
city’s
youth
and
returning
citizens.”
Specializing
in
just-roasted,
just-brewed
by-the-cup
coffee,
Roasting
Plant is
a
fast-growing
company
at the
forefront
of the
coffee
industry’s
future,
In
addition
to the
purchase
of the
Detroit
store,
Harper
has
invested
directly
in
Roasting
Plant,
Inc.,
and
serves
as both
an
Advisor
and
Brand
Ambassador
to the
company
as a
means of
providing
not only
the
freshest
cup of
coffee
in the
city but
as an
engine
of
economic
empowerment
for
Detroit
and its
young
residents.
“Our
experience
in the
Detroit
market
has
exceeded
our most
optimistic
expectations
and
we’re
grateful
to our
loyal
customers,”
said
Mike
Caswell,
Roasting
Plant
Founder.
“When
Dan
Gilbert
invited
us to
join
Opportunity
Detroit
we
jumped
at the
chance
to be
part of
this
great
American
city’s
renaissance.
We’re so
excited
to now
be
partnering
with
Hill
Harper
to bring
an
entrepreneurial
approach
to
empowering
young
people
across
the
city.”
The
innovation
that
sets
Roasting
Plant
apart
from
other
artisanal,
third-wave
coffee
shops is
their
proprietary
Javabot™
system.
This
state-of-the
art
system
brings
the
entire
coffee
supply
chain
into
each
café
with
on-site
micro-batch
roasting
of green
coffee
beans
and a
selection
of seven
single-origin
beans,
signature
blends
or a
wide-array
of
bespoke
blends.
This
just-roasted
coffee
experience,
with
personalization
of every
custom
cup of
coffee,
is the
defining
quality
of
Roasting
Plant.
In about
a
minute,
Roasting
Plant’s
Javabot™
system
allows
each
customer
to
engineer
their
perfect
cup of
coffee,
complete
with a
frothy
crema on
top—a
telltale
sign of
freshness.
You
won’t
get this
from any
other
cup of
black
coffee
anywhere
else.
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