The New Deal Café and the Greenbelt Co-op Supermarket and Pharmacy are delighted to announce a new stage of cooperation in historic Roosevelt Center. The two cooperatives have an agreement in principle (pending final approval by their boards) that will have the supermarket running the Café’s food and beverage operation, with the Café’s staff and volunteers continuing to provide the venue’s award-winning music and arts programming. This historic collaboration will be a great win for community and cooperation in Greenbelt.
The agreement is the culmination of the Café’s six-month-long search for a new kitchen operator, which involved the review of more than 70 résumés and a dozen proposals from a variety of area restaurateurs.
“The Greenbelt Co-op made a compelling proposal to us that checked all our boxes: providing quality food for a variety of diets, expanded service hours, affordable prices and the desire to maintain the friendly, laid-back ‘community living room’
atmosphere that’s been a hallmark of the Café for 26 years,” said Michael Hartman, the Café board’s president. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with our fellow cooperative, and believe this arrangement will be perfect for our members, customers and the community at large.”
The Café’s interior has been getting an extensive facelift – refinished floors, replaced ceiling tiles and lighting fixtures, a new paint job – while it has been closed during the past several months. The refresh is nearly complete, and the two cooperatives hope to have the Café up and running again soon.
When it is, the Café will be open seven days a week, from morning to night, serving delicious food and beverages, including coffee drinks (espresso anyone?), smoothies, bagels, sandwiches and dinner entrees and classic bar food to go along with a great selection of beer and wine. The new New Deal Café will be a groovy coffee shop/restaurant/bar with all the wonderful music and arts programming patrons have come to love – now 100 percent cooperatively run!
“We’re excited to help feed, refresh and caffeinate our friends and neighbors in an exciting, expanded way that celebrates cooperation,” said Dan Gillotte, general manager of the Greenbelt Co-op. Gillotte told the News Review he is looking forward to a soft opening in July.
“I am very excited about Dan’s vision for the Café,” said Café board member Dorian Winterfeld.
“It’s a most wonderful thing for our co-ops, Roosevelt Center and the whole community,” added Bill Jones, Co-op board president.