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PROFILES
A whole latte love
Jimmy’s Coffee brews success across Toronto
BY JENNIFER LEE, PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION (MASTER’S) ’13
WHEN YOU walk into a Jimmy’s Coffee shop in Toronto, you will notice the walls are adorned with framed images of famous Jimmys—from Carter and Hendrix to Kimmel and Durante. The one Jimmy that’s missing is the owner. That’s because his name isn’t “Jimmy”—it’s Phil Morrison, Business Administration ’90.
Morrison admits he didn’t even know what a latte was when he opened his first Jimmy’s Coffee on December 10, 2009. After graduating from Ryerson, he owned a few bars and then ventured into flipping houses, which led to the very first Jimmy’s Coffee shop. Morrison bought an abandoned house on Portland Street, intending to sell it after making extensive renovations, but found that he had fallen in love with the neighbourhood.
Then he met an astute store manager who had helped Jamie Kennedy open Hank’s Café and they worked together to establish a coffee shop. When the store manager suggested naming the coffeehouse “Jimmy’s,” Morrison turned to his daughter and said, “You know, I’ve never met a Jimmy I didn’t like.”
He credits the store manager for defining the shop’s vibe—good customer service, a quality product and a laid-back environment, with books and a fireplace.
Morrison sells his own line of coffee beans—each roast is named after a famous Jimmy. What’s unique about each “Jimmy” bean is that it is roasted locally using a technology that produces zero emissions. Morrison continues to keep the cost of each coffee a quarter or 50 cents lower than the prices at competing coffee shops. “Quality coffee shouldn’t be pretentious,” he says. “It’s the number one drink in the world.”
Today, Morrison owns eight Jimmy’s Coffee stores. He plans to open a few more shops until “it stops being fun,” he says.
“My real success has been not pushing, and letting things go naturally. When Jimmy’s opened, something just clicked. It’s not something I did, it’s something magical that happens that people receive. And when they do, I say thank you, we hit the right nerve.” 
Summer 2019 / Ryerson University Magazine 39
