On Monday, April 9, the board of the New Deal Café voted 5 to 0 to end the Café’s effort to self-manage its kitchen operations. The board passed a motion to approve and sign a contract with a Washington, D.C.-based food contractor to operate the kitchen as of July 1. The Café is a member-owned cooperative established in 1995 and has been located in Roosevelt Center since 2000.
The board decided in the fall of 2016 to end the Café’s relationship with a food vendor who had operated the kitchen for eight years. In a special membership meeting that September, Café members authorized the board to borrow up to $200,000 for capital improvements and to manage the restaurant. At Monday’s meeting, the board’s treasurer Bill Jones said that the Café’s attempt to manage its own kitchen had not been financially successful. The Café has outstanding loans and credit card balances of about $200,000, and its monthly operating loss has averaged between $6,000 and $7,000 the past few months. The Café is currently keeping its doors open with gifts and loans from the board and members.
The new contractors, Michael and Leah Moon, own and operate DC Vegan Catering as well as Pianta, a sandwich shop. According to their website (dc-vegan.com), they have over 30 years of combined business and event experience. Board President Tom LeaMond said the Café’s new menu would offer “plant-based Italian/American comfort food.” Under the proposed three-year contract, the Café would continue to manage the bar and music venue while the contractor would be responsible for operating the restaurant and a catering business.
Read more of this story in the April 12 News Review.