Crazy Horse Coffee launches McMurray location

Story by Kristin Emery Photos courtesy of Crazy Horse Coffee

James Bendel knows all about coffee shops. The Latrobe native spent plenty of time in them during his years in the oil and gas industry. “I would stop in coffee shops to send my sales reports,” says Bendel, who ventured into the coffee business himself back in 2018 with the launch of Crazy Horse Coffee in North Strabane. “I liked the vibe, quiet in a busy room feel. It’s a great atmosphere for business as well as the demographic not always forgiving but mostly supportive of local brands.” After serving his country in the US Army, including two tours in Iraq, Bendel left the military in 2008 and began a business career. By 2017, he was ready for a new challenge. “In 2017, I was in the middle of shareholders trying to steer the business I was working for and decided my livelihood was in the hands of people who had a different mindset that did not protect the employees,” he explains. “On Veterans Day 2017, I decided I was opening a coffee shop named after my Army unit.” That’s how Crazy Horse Coffee was born. He created a business plan, started shopping the idea to banks and got funding with the help of Northwest Bank and his partner (and stepdad), Gary Downs. Crazy Horse Coffee opened its doors at 900 Wildflower Circle, Suite 911, in December 2018. The cozy location off Route 19 near Racetrack Road by Planet Fitness offers fresh coffee, baked goods and snacks.

Expanding to second location

Juggling his business career and the new coffee shop wasn’t easy, but Bendel managed to do it for several years and even started thinking about opening a second location. “I partially owned a small oil and gas business for the first four years of owning Crazy Horse Coffee,” Bendel says. “We sold the business, and I took a position with the buyer for about a year. During that time, we began building McMurray and planned to open this past May.” That’s when Bendel went all in on the coffee business and transitioned to working on Crazy Horse Coffee full-time. The timeline for opening suffered a few setbacks, but the brand-new McMurray location of Crazy Horse Coffee opened its doors in August at 3939 Washington Road in McMurray at Donaldson’s Crossroads and celebrated an official grand opening on Veterans Day. “Peters Township is growing, and the median household income is close to double that of the first location in Washington,” Bendel says of his choice for a second outlet. “It’s also far enough down Route 19 to where I could capture a new group of customers yet increase the convenience for folks who now drive the 40-minute round trip for the best cup of coffee around.” In addition to the two brick-and-mortar stores, Crazy Horse also supplies Fresh Start Cafe in Canonsburg and Rinkside Cafe in Southpointe and is putting the final touches on the Trinity High School cafe.

Driven to give back

Most days, you’ll find James at one of the two Crazy Horse Coffee locations, and you’ll likely see his best helper, his son, who is also named James, right by his side. Young James is already learning the family business and getting life lessons in giving back from his dad. Bendel spends much of his time giving back to the community through his nonprofit called Help-Hard. He says the name is derived from hard-working Americans receiving assistance. “The inspiration behind starting my very own nonprofit was because, for several years in the oil and gas industry, I was part of a group which held wonderful events, and their philanthropic mission introduced me to a new understanding of how giving back and doing business go hand in hand,” Bendel explains. “In 2018, I was nominated for Pittsburgh’s 50 Finest and raised a little over $40,000 by having a machine gun shoot at Washington County Machine Guns.” He says that event broke some records for fundraising, and that spurred him on to do even more. In 2020, he held a car show in the Crazy Horse Coffee parking lot and raised $3,000 for the Washington Humane Society. “Our business provides support to several local nonprofits as well as local emergency services through special fundraisers and in innovative ways,” he says. “The goal is to eventually build up the reserves to where we can issue grants to local technical school students with the entrepreneurial spirit.”

When he’s not organizing a fundraiser for his own organization, Bendel is busy donating to other efforts, including donating brewed coffee to local events. “Help-Hard receives applications daily through our web portal with people reaching out with all sorts of opportunities,” says Bendel. “It’s grown to the point where we field well over 100 applications for assistance per year.” That has ranged from helping a local veteran get a service dog trained to participating in fundraisers such as Bentworth soccer and Trinity choir, assisting the Washington Salvation Army with their Love in a Backpack initiative, an annual Thanksgiving food drive with United We Smile, the Crazy Horse Coffee Annual Toy drive and touch a truck with the Pennsylvania State Police. “Our biggest drive of the year and next upcoming fundraiser is to buy a bag of coffee, and we donate a bag to deployed troops and active service members,” Bendel adds. “Our last effort yielded 200 bags in just under two weeks.”