Welcome Home to the Community Café
The mission of the Community Café in St. Petersburg, Florida, is to cultivate a welcoming, comfortable, and safe space that becomes a home away from home, and as owner Mandy Keyes explains, “our prime objective is to bring the community together. Hence the name, Community Cafe :)”
This community center is open daily and late nights, and has something for everyone including gluten-free, vegetarian and veg-friendly options. Popular on the menu is the portabella quesadilla, the pesto tofu panini with seared tofu, zucchini, red peppers, red onions and feta, Mandy’s Wrap with fresh spinach, tomatoes, and shredded carrots with feta cheese and avocado spread, and Christine’s Sandwich: a classic chicken salad sandwich with whole chunks of chicken, apples, dried cranberries, grapes and walnuts on toasted sourdough.
First launched through a community-funded campaign on Indiegogo, about 4 years ago, the cafe has grown to be a valued community space and comfortable place for lunch or dinner, serving alcoholic beverages, and coffee.
A unique method that the team offers is membership privileges to those who are committed to supporting the cafe, with
* Voting privileges; for example Members have selected all of the cafe’s art themes, named many of the specials, and even picked out the paint color for the cafe’s walls
* Free dessert Fridays; at the end of the workweek, members can come in and pick out any dessert they’d like, every Friday
* Collaborative scrapbook; members can design a full page of in the community-wide album “scrapbook” of whatever they’d like — “their cats, their business, their hobbies — all of it is a part of our community”
* Lending library access; while patrons may read a book while they drink coffee, only members can check out books and dvds from the cafe’s lending library.
As a valued central space, the café is also a leader for community art and cultural events, hosting the annual “Grandiversary” every January to celebrate local vendors, artists, and craftspeople.
Late night hours, coffee, beer, sandwiches with vegan and vegetarian options, local art and community-oriented events.
