PHOENIX — Jason Cvancara quit his job as a police officer after he said it became increasingly dangerous.
The father of four instead turned to coffee – and a new business venture called Zona Coffee Company.
"Incidents with guns drawn were happening like five or six different times, and that was over 10 years," he said. "In just the last year, it was like five or six times, we've had guys answer the door with knives, one guy with a machete, incidents where the violence was clearly there."
Cvancara said after 10 years with the Phoenix Police Department and small stints with other law enforcement, it was time to transition away from protecting his community to serving them cups of coffee.
"It's a huge risk, it's a very tough job, and you kind of weigh the balances, and a lot of it was family," Cvancara about stepping away from law enforcement. "My family asked, 'can you step away? Let's do something different.'"
That's where Zone Coffee Company comes in.
While the Arizona-inspired options are only online, for now, Cvancara said he's just getting started.
"We have two different locations that we're scoping out, one is in Mesa it's going to be in a shared community space, and the other is in Tempe. The thing that I miss the most about working law enforcement is talking to people that I wouldn't normally talk to otherwise, so we're planning on having community events to bring people together."
He hopes to bridge the gap between cops and the community, one cup of coffee at a time.
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