Cathedral Kitchen is set to open CK Café later this month, the latest venture for an organization that has been fighting hunger in the city of Camden for almost 40 years.
Since 1976, Cathedral Kitchen has served millions of meals, and over 100,000 a year, to the city’s hungry, and has worked to address the root causes of poverty with job-training programs and supportive services, including dental care, to help people move forward and become productive citizens.
Cathedral Kitchen has renovated a building next to its 1514 Federal Street location for the café, which will seat 36 people.
In addition to providing hot and cold sandwiches, soups and salads from Tuesday-Friday starting in May, the café will also be available for corporate meetings and catered events. With a rooftop garden, the building’s spring plantings will provide fresh produce and herbs for the café.
The opening of the CK Café will result in 16 new jobs, nine of them being filled by graduates of Cathedral Kitchen’s Culinary Arts program, and three by Camden residents.
Income from the café will help fund the kitchen’s human services program.
DAS Architects in Philadelphia, a top design firm, led the $2.3 million project, which began construction in the spring of 2014, and finished this past February.
A Baking Arts training program is also scheduled to be launched this August, with 12 students enrolled in its first class.
The Ribbon-Cutting ceremony and Open House for CK Café will be Friday, April 17, at 11 a.m.
CK Café will be open for business starting on Tuesday, May 12, from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.