Daniel Klemm spent years in prison before achieving great success in the corporate restaurant industry.
PARKER, Colo. — A Colorado man is leaving the corporate world to try something new: opening a coffee shop that aims to make a difference in the community.
Daniel Klemm has had a lot of success in corporate restaurants, having held senior management roles at Applebee's, Illegal Pete's and Cheba Hut.
It's a remarkable success story, as Clem says he survived a troubled youth that included arrests for car theft, firearm possession and robbery.
“My first son, Damien, was born while I was in prison, and that was really the start of turning my life around,” Clem said. “I feel like that was a turning point for me to take a step back and really look at my life.”
In April, Clem decided to leave his job and open Convict Coffee in Parker, focusing on helping former inmates succeed in society.
According to Klem, Convict Coffee operates on an employee profit-sharing model, where employees receive bonuses based on the company's performance.
He's also determined not to take a big CEO salary after seeing a huge disparity between upper management and restaurant staff at some of the companies he's worked for.
“We're pretty anti-corporate around here,” Klemm says, “and we feel that corporations in general don't care about their employees as much as they should.”
Klem said his ultimate goal is to open two more Convict Coffee locations and sell franchise rights to former inmates at a low price.
“At the end of the day, if I'm super successful and doing great and my employees are struggling, I don't think that's a success,” he said.
