“I really wanted to start some sort of coffee business,” Jordan Haas says, “but I knew it needed to have a mission.”
Simply exchanging caffeine for currency and helping the masses make it through another morning wasn’t enough. Haas wanted to do something meaningful.
She found that through Blaze, her now 8-year-old German shepherd, and Tucker, her 3-year-old German shepherd-Belgian Malinois mix.
“Dogs are my passion, a thousand percent,” Haas says. “So I started my coffee trailer dedicated to helping shelter dogs and rescue dogs find their forever homes.”
The 23-year-old entrepreneur’s Pups and Cups serves up dog-themed drinks. Its motto: Sip a cup, save a pup. Photos of adoptable dogs are posted outside the trailer. Each Friday, Haas donates a portion of the profits to area shelters and rescues.
The Funky Puppy, made with banana, caramel and hazelnut, is her best seller. The Shepherd’s Latte, with dark chocolate and salted caramel, is a close second.
Pups and Cups’ fall menu includes Caramel Apple Zoomies (green apple and caramel Red Bull) and Snoopy S’mores (dark chocolate, toasted marshmallow latte with s’mores cold foam and graham cracker crumble).
Drinks are $6 for 16 ounces and $7 for 24 ounces. They’re available hot or cold.
“I feel like I have really good coffee beans,” Haas says. “I have a really good roaster out here. It’s Dark Moon (Roasters), and everyone loves Dark Moon.”
She began her coffee career at 15 working in a mom-and-pop shop. A couple of years later, she became the assistant manager. After two years of business courses at College of Southern Nevada, Haas opened Pups and Cups in 2024.
“When people are getting a coffee, they love to just wait and look at ’em,” she says of the photos she posts on her trailer of dogs awaiting their forever homes. “I’ve had a lot of people take pictures and go check them out at The Animal Foundation or wherever they’re from that week.”
Her weekly donations sometimes involve money. Often, they’re physical goods that groups have posted on their Amazon wish lists.
“A lot of the times it’s actually food that they constantly need,” Haas explains. “They really don’t need, like, toys or stuff like that. It’s a lot of food and blankets and beds and stuff.”
She found the cost of being that involved in animal rescues isn’t just financial.
“I made a video not too long ago of me going to The Animal Foundation, and halfway through the video I’m just in tears,” Haas says. “I never realized how bad it actually was until I got very much involved with the rescue and the shelter community.”
In its first two years, Pups and Cups has grown from a small cart to a small trailer to its current setup. You can find its weekly schedule at @pupsandcupslv on TikTok and @pupsandcups.lv on Instagram.
Haas is working toward a more permanent location, though.
“I really want a brick-and-mortar shop. That would be ideal for me,” she says. “I want to hold adoption events as well. … If I had an actual shop, it would be dedicated towards that.”
Contact Christopher Lawrence at [email protected] or 702-380-4567.