Starbucks Corp. Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol has much in common with Dan Klehm of Parker, who a year ago started his own coffee company to compete with the corporate giant.

Both executives had lengthy restaurant resumes before moving over to roasting beans, and both have seen some quick successes.

What they don’t have in common is that before heading up the corporate ladder, Klehm served two years in the California State Prison at Vacaville after an arrest, at age 19, for burglary, grand theft and possession of a deadly weapon.

That was one of several prison stints Klehm logged early on, starting with time in juvenile hall for breaking and entering, at age 13, and a high-speed chase and grand theft auto conviction when he turned 16.

The outcomes might have been expected for Klehm, who grew up in the Bay Area.

“Addiction ran through my entire family,” Klehm said. “I left home at age 12 during a beating.”

What wasn’t expected is two turnarounds Klehm made over the last 35 years — the first after getting out of prison that led him into the restaurant business and high-powered jobs at Applebee’s and Illegal Pete’s before booze inevitably got back in the way.

A second turnaround happened Christmas morning of 2023, during what he said was an all-time low following months of drinking and depression, as he struggled to keep a relationship with his two sons and a daughter.

“I woke up, and the kids were coming to see me,” he said. “I had this moment of clarity that I was ready to face life and channel it into something else.”

“That morning,” he recalled, “I texted (my son) Daniel and said, ‘Convict Coffee Company.’”

A few minutes later, his son texted back that he liked that after checking to see whether anybody else had the name.

“I spent the day with my kids, the best day we had in years,” he said. “I just enjoyed their company and talked a place where people could come be at home.”

Klehm has had numbers of good days since at Convict Coffee Company, which is located on Parker Road just south of Hilltop Road.

50 strangers

After telling his story to 50 strangers at an AA meeting, Klehm opened the doors to Convict Coffee Company a year ago April — after loading a bunch of credit cards with debt to cover rent, hardware, and fixings for caffeinated commodities.

Those would include edgy options that one won’t find in a Starbucks or a Panera — a couple of dozen “dirty sodas” and “dirty Red Bulls.” One is a ‘D’s Nuts,’ amaretto and hazelnut cold brew with oat milk. “Grub” selections include a jalapeno-popper grilled cheese.

Marketing expenses for all-important web campaigns would be covered by his son, Daniel, 28, who has a marketing degree from CU Boulder and who went to work creating graphics, a website and Instagram posts.

“When I started, people thought I was crazy,” Klehm recounted. “I got wellness checks from well-meaning friends. They said, ‘Take that off your page.’”

“But I told myself, I’m burning the ships. I know this has to work.”

Customer jams

Convict Coffee looks nothing like its big-bean competitors — it is housed in an older shoppette between a bong purveyor and a dry cleaners.

A free bumper sticker reads: “Corporate Coffee Sucks.”

Convict is often jammed with customers, Klehm said.

On Saturday and Sundays, sometimes out the door.

“The coffee is great,” said Parker resident Steve Watson, who visits Convict with his wife, Nancy. The pair switched from their regular place after driving past Convict on the way to work.

A vanilla latte, Watson said, cost $6, which he thought was lower than what he was paying at larger franchises.

“Four-hundred billion cups of coffee are sold in American yearly,” Klehm said. “In our opinion, every one is the same, similar music, similar vibe. But not everybody wants the Starbucks experience.” 

In addition to its kitchen and coffee bar, the space has other rooms where customers tend to spill over into klatches.

Among those customers hanging around are church groups and 501(c)(3) volunteers, who like what Klehm has been doing with his proceeds and who hold their meetings there.

Every quarter, a new cause is chosen for proceeds from every cup sold, many of them recovery oriented: Parker’s own Step Seven Ministries, for which Convict did an early fundraiser, turning up $3,000 for the group; a juvenile assessment center, which works with kids on alternatives to incarceration; and Treasure House of Hope.

Cold brew coffee beans are prepped by Redemption Roasters, toasted by women at Denver Women’s Correctional Facility, an inhouse program where inmates are paid a wage. Baked good sales go in part to support eight sober-living homes.

“Convict Coffee is a place where all these things converge. Now Convict is my recovery program,” Klehm said.

Against all odds, Klehm said it is also turning a profit.

A few months ago, an officer from Austin-based American Bank of Commerce — which provided venture capital to some notable startups — proffered a loan to pull the debt out of Klehm’s credit cards, with some additional money to search out expansion locations.

‘I know your type’

That scenario was a long way from reality when Klehm, age 21, walked out of Vacaville and met his parole officer.

“I know your type, you’ll be back in six months,” he recalled the agent telling him.

“I told him ‘I’ll complete this and you’ll never see me again,’” Klehm said.

“I was feeding myself by working in restaurants,” he said. “I loved it because you got a shift meal — you could take a steak home. My first job paid $3.35 an hour, and the food perk was incredible.”

After a stint at an Applebee’s, he was promoted to assistant manager.

“They were building a hundred restaurants a year, and if you showed up and worked hard, there was opportunity,” Klehm said.

That led to management stints at Marie Callanders, Logan’s Roadhouse, and Rock Bottom Brewery in Denver, where he met founder Frank Day, who Klehm said became a kind of mentor.

Klehm had a similar experience working with Pete Turner, who founded Denver-based Illegal Pete’s.

Biggest payback

After a scouting trip looking for expansion sites, Klehm told The Denver Gazette he is building standards into any franchise agreements that management salaries must be kept in reasonable range of what is paid to baristas.

“One of our core tenets will be that nobody can ever make 10 times the wage of the lowest employee,” Klehm said.

He currently pays his counter staff around $20 an hour, plus tips. Average baristas in the Denver area, according to various accounts, make anywhere from $15 to $17.

Klehm said he is also working on a model where future franchisees could be former inmates, who would be well qualified to carry on the Convict message.

Meanwhile, Klehm said he already received the biggest possible payback just after he opened, as he reestablished relations with children Damien, 34 — now his operations chief — Daniel, 28, marketing director, and his youngest, daughter, Jadyn.

She was the toughie, Klehm recalled.

She had been through years of growing up around addiction and watching a parental divorce unfold.

“She tested me, she pinged me,” Klehm said.

Three months from opening, Convict featured a fundraiser in the shop, featuring a band.

Between numbers, the lead singer pointed out the proprietor.

“There is somebody who is changing lives,” he said. “Give a shout out to Dan.”

Jaydin came over and gave him a hug.

“I’m so proud of you,” he recalled her saying.