A cafe that provides a space for veterans and people with developmental differences is set to open in Spring 2020.
Ornery Vets Cafe, to be located at 30 E. State St., hopes to cater to multiple populations who may not otherwise have a space that they are able to easily interact in, including veterans, those who experience PTSD and those with developmental differences, said founders Joel Laufman, Patty Mitchell, and Thomas Stevenson.
“It's going to be a small coffee shop that will that will cater to veterans, first-responders, you know, cops, firefighters, EMS guys, Highway Patrol, and whoever may have difficulty expressing their feelings in mixed company,” Joel Laufman, a founder of the project, said, “This also includes post-traumatic stress through (things like) rape.”
Ornery Vets will serve smoothies made from locally sourced ingredients and soups, salads, and pastries made at other local businesses. It will also feature events like a yoga group, a meditation group, and a PTSD support group regularly throughout the week.
Stevenson, an Ohio University professor involved with Passion Works Studio, said the types of smoothies will be determined by what fresh, local produce is in season.
“Our focus is really smoothies, but it's not the smoothies where you add protein. It is smoothies where you use all local, healthy food,” Stevenson said. “Some of the food products will come from the farmers market and some will come from our student farm on campus.”
The soups, salads and pastries will come from restaurants like Casa Nueva Cantina and Grille, Purple Chopstix, and Zoe. This allows the cafe to advertise for and “tell the story” of local businesses, Mitchell, director of Passion Works, said.
Mitchell said that the studio’s team had hoped to found an establishment that was accessible to their artists and other visitors but setting up a business entirely on their own was not feasible.
Laufman, a Vietnam War veteran involved with Passion Works, heard about this and wanted to help open a cafe that would cater to veterans, as well as the artists he cares about at the studio.
“We just kept talking and thinking well, what if we had this cafe that would involve veterans, people with developmental differences, community members, and we're all in the mix together and then have good food,” Mitchell said.
Laufman said the business aims to be financially accessible for many members of the community.
“(Prices) are going to be very reasonable because part of what we plan on doing is having healthy food for these people without breaking the bank,” Laufman said.
The founders of Ornery Vets do not intend to make a profit from the cafe, although the team hopes to employ a manager, Laufman said.
“It has to make enough money to keep yourself open, obviously,” Laufman said. “That's all that we want. I will never take a dime out of it, Thomas will never take a dime out of it and Patty will never take the dime out of it.”
The space will have an emphasis on healthy eating for all members of the community.
“We started conversations last year with hopes this will provide healthy food options for people with developmental differences,” Stevenson said. “Many times the food offerings are not healthy for that population.”
The cafe also has a goal of opening up a space for connection, Mitchell said.
“The intention of it is to have a social space really welcoming veterans and the entire community, but to have like a dry bar or like alcohol-free zone,” Mitchell said. “It's social, and will have music and poetry readings and however it unfolds so that there are options for people to be able to come in and connect.”
Ornery Vets also has a goal of accessibility to those of all abilities, both for workers and those visiting. The founders are working with OU students from many different departments to make the cafe as accessible as possible.
“We're in collaboration with mechanical engineering students who are designing equipment to accommodate people with a lot more differences,” Stevenson said, “Also, there's universal design to make it better for all persons in the space.”
The project brings together the team’s interests, including Laufman’s experience as a Vietnam veteran and the struggles he faced when returning home.
“I don't want to let that happen in any way, shape or form to the men and women who are coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq,” Laufman said.
During a test run before opening Ornery Vets, Stevenson said he had an individual with developmental differences tell him about their experience.
“(We) walked around with notepads taking requests from individuals of the community to order and … one individual from the space came over to me and said, ‘This is the first time anyone has ever come to me and took an order for what I wanted to eat in that moment,’” Stevenson said. “Honestly, that is a thing we take for granted.”
