Meet Our Founder
Toya Jones
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It all started with a girl who had aspirations of becoming a writer. While spending countless hours in coffee shops near and far in her early twenties, a new inspiration was born. Toya Jones, Founder and CEO of Morning Brew Coffee Company had always been passionate about food, music, poetry and a warm atmosphere with great cup of coffee to keep those creative juices flowing.
Toya was born in Roanoke, Virginia but also lived in Virginia Beach as a young child as well as Northern Virginia in her early twenties. Although she loves the beach, she considers Roanoke, Virginia home. Her family lived in the Grandin area. Toya attended Virginia Heights Elementary. After moving to the NW side of town, she attended Huff Lane Intermediate School. Attending Huff Lane encouraged her to embrace music and poetry even more.
Toya's plan was to attend a recording engineer program in Arizona, immediately after graduating from Patrick Henry High School. Although she did not take that opportunity, she continued to write music and became super fascinated with poetry. She was determined to utilize her skills as a songwriter and her strong interest to produce music. She wrote a letter the founders of Roanoke Unplugged (Roanoke's version of Austin City Limits) and begged them for a job. They offered her an intern position. Later she wrote a letter to Flat Five Recording Studio and expressed her passion for working in the music industry as an engineer. While they did not offer her a paid position, they did write her back offering an intern position as well.
Toya went on to hold senior management positions within corporate companies/offices. Because of her determination and drive, she has been known to quickly accel within those companies that she ran for others. It was 2008 when she began to map out her business plan. Toya's dream was to open a successful coffee shop with a bookstore attached, live close enough so that she could ride her bike to work, eventually travel outside of the country for culture and inspiration and publish a book of poetry.
Toya has always been interested in business. She started her very first one when she was nine years old. Young Toya went into her grandmother's pantry one summer morning and pulled out a jar of peanut butter and sugar. She took out eggs from the fridge and began to bake peanut butter cookies. She bagged three cookies to a bag and hired her cousins to help knock door to door and sell cookies throughout the neighborhood. At that very moment, she was hooked.
Even while working a "regular" job, Toya still had side hustles that she created including a music equipment shop as well as a grocery & food delivery service, circa 2002 (well before Uber eats, Grub Hub and all of the other food delivery services were thought of).
The year was 2012 when Toya left corporate America to pursue her dreams full time. Her plan was to create a business that would fund and support her ultimate dream. Toya started Vivid Property Maintenance. It rapidly grew and within months, her company was contracted through MKB Realtors to Maintain all of their rental properties as well as taking on private contracts for senior realtors and non-commercial clients. Toya then created Vivid, LLC that became the umbrella for Vivid Property Maintenance and Vivid Lawncare.
In 2014, Toya purchased a short bus. She and her partner gutted it completely and transformed it into a food truck. In 2015 she took The DOJO Grill out for the first time. Overnight it become a popular food truck and bookings went through the roof. Between breweries, wineries, weddings, private events, office lunches, music festivals and more, the DOJO Grill didn't slow down. In 2019 Toya's food truck won the platinum food truck award for best food truck in the Roanoke valley for The Roanoker Magazine Dining Award.
In 2017, Toya opened The Vatican Bistro in Roanoke County. The Vatican hosted music shows, bringing in local and international music acts. In 2018 The Vatican Bistro went through a name change to Morning Brew Coffee Company. With that name change came a new location. Morning Brew Coffee Company relocated to Downtown Roanoke and occupied the 2000sf space inside of The Taubman Museum of Art.
From restaurants to coffee shops, to food trucks, to fresh juice bars to music venues - Toya is passionate, goal driven, dedicated, business oriented and is constantly creating. She enjoys food, photography, writing music, writing poetry, coffee shops, the ocean and traveling.
Toya was born in Roanoke, Virginia but also lived in Virginia Beach as a young child as well as Northern Virginia in her early twenties. Although she loves the beach, she considers Roanoke, Virginia home. Her family lived in the Grandin area. Toya attended Virginia Heights Elementary. After moving to the NW side of town, she attended Huff Lane Intermediate School. Attending Huff Lane encouraged her to embrace music and poetry even more.
Toya's plan was to attend a recording engineer program in Arizona, immediately after graduating from Patrick Henry High School. Although she did not take that opportunity, she continued to write music and became super fascinated with poetry. She was determined to utilize her skills as a songwriter and her strong interest to produce music. She wrote a letter the founders of Roanoke Unplugged (Roanoke's version of Austin City Limits) and begged them for a job. They offered her an intern position. Later she wrote a letter to Flat Five Recording Studio and expressed her passion for working in the music industry as an engineer. While they did not offer her a paid position, they did write her back offering an intern position as well.
Toya went on to hold senior management positions within corporate companies/offices. Because of her determination and drive, she has been known to quickly accel within those companies that she ran for others. It was 2008 when she began to map out her business plan. Toya's dream was to open a successful coffee shop with a bookstore attached, live close enough so that she could ride her bike to work, eventually travel outside of the country for culture and inspiration and publish a book of poetry.
Toya has always been interested in business. She started her very first one when she was nine years old. Young Toya went into her grandmother's pantry one summer morning and pulled out a jar of peanut butter and sugar. She took out eggs from the fridge and began to bake peanut butter cookies. She bagged three cookies to a bag and hired her cousins to help knock door to door and sell cookies throughout the neighborhood. At that very moment, she was hooked.
Even while working a "regular" job, Toya still had side hustles that she created including a music equipment shop as well as a grocery & food delivery service, circa 2002 (well before Uber eats, Grub Hub and all of the other food delivery services were thought of).
The year was 2012 when Toya left corporate America to pursue her dreams full time. Her plan was to create a business that would fund and support her ultimate dream. Toya started Vivid Property Maintenance. It rapidly grew and within months, her company was contracted through MKB Realtors to Maintain all of their rental properties as well as taking on private contracts for senior realtors and non-commercial clients. Toya then created Vivid, LLC that became the umbrella for Vivid Property Maintenance and Vivid Lawncare.
In 2014, Toya purchased a short bus. She and her partner gutted it completely and transformed it into a food truck. In 2015 she took The DOJO Grill out for the first time. Overnight it become a popular food truck and bookings went through the roof. Between breweries, wineries, weddings, private events, office lunches, music festivals and more, the DOJO Grill didn't slow down. In 2019 Toya's food truck won the platinum food truck award for best food truck in the Roanoke valley for The Roanoker Magazine Dining Award.
In 2017, Toya opened The Vatican Bistro in Roanoke County. The Vatican hosted music shows, bringing in local and international music acts. In 2018 The Vatican Bistro went through a name change to Morning Brew Coffee Company. With that name change came a new location. Morning Brew Coffee Company relocated to Downtown Roanoke and occupied the 2000sf space inside of The Taubman Museum of Art.
From restaurants to coffee shops, to food trucks, to fresh juice bars to music venues - Toya is passionate, goal driven, dedicated, business oriented and is constantly creating. She enjoys food, photography, writing music, writing poetry, coffee shops, the ocean and traveling.
