SAME Café to open Nov 4th inside Main Library
SAME (So All May Eat) Café opened its second location, and first outside of Colorado, inside the Main Library in Toledo, with a ribbon-cutting celebration slated for Friday, Nov. 4 at 10:30 a.m.
SAME Café Denver opened in 2006, making it the longest-running nonprofit restaurant in the country. The Café offers an innovative, participation-based model providing every guest with access to healthy food by contributing what they can through time, money or produce. The daily rotating menu consists of two salads, two soups and two pizzas, all made with fresh local produce and always offering a gluten-free and vegetarian option.
Following a seven-month renovation and expansion of the café space, SAME Café Toledo will be located on the main level of the Main Library, a downtown Toledo landmark since it opened in 1940.
The Café will occupy a 1,640 square foot space, servicing library patrons and the surrounding downtown area. The Café will also activate the adjacent Commissioner’s Plaza space with an outside entrance and additional patio seating during warmer months.
“We are thrilled to welcome SAME Café Toledo into Main Library. Their forward-thinking participatory model welcomes everyone to the table for delicious and healthy food regardless of what they have or don’t have,” said Jason Kucsma, executive director of Toledo Lucas County Public Library. “It’s a perfect fit for the public library where we aim to nourish the mind, body, and spirit every day as we open our doors to the community."
The location inside the Main Library in Toledo follows SAME Café’s national growth plans to expand into libraries, a natural gathering place for the community. The location in Toledo will be led by Executive Director Cory Wolin, Café Executive Chef Lynn Sheehan, Sous Chef Veronica Reynaga and Volunteer Manager Diana DePasquale.
“SAME Café is the longest-running nonprofit restaurant of its kind in the country and we’re so excited to replicate this impactful organization in Toledo,” said Executive Director Cory Wolin. “Community is not necessarily defined by a place, but rather a context for individuals to live equitably and wholeheartedly. The mission drives SAME Café and to have the good fortune to be housed in the Main Library of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library just made sense. This environment fosters an inherent sense of welcoming, warmth, belonging and access regardless of someone’s background.”
With its mission of building community through healthy food access, which is served in a dignified manner, to anyone who walks through the door, SAME Café hopes to also help the community do better in Toledo.
“So All May Eat has long hoped to replicate the mission of SAME Café Denver by working with downtown library locations to turn their Café spaces into SAME Cafés,” said CEO of SAME Café, Brad Reubendale. “Jason and his team have worked closely with SAME to build a meaningful partnership between TLCPL Main Library and So All May Eat /SAME Café Toledo and we are absolutely thrilled to be opening our second location in one of the key cultural institutions in Toledo, OH. This model will hopefully be replicated around the country in other libraries who understand that the need for access to healthy food is as important as the need for access to information."
SAME Café’s operating hours will be Monday-Friday from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. The Café will celebrate with a Grand Opening on Nov. 4 at 10 a.m., with the ribbon-cutting scheduled at 10:30 a.m.
Follow @samecafetoledo for more ways to get involved and to keep up with the latest. For volunteer opportunities, email volunteer@samecafetoledo.org.