Hattie's expanding to library
Cafe that employs the disabled will open in 3 or 4 months at Main Library
By Carol Biliczky, Beacon Journal
Published on Friday, Feb 29, 2008
The Main Library in downtown Akron will be the site for the third Hattie's Cafe employing people with disabilities.
The Mantua nonprofit organization will pay the Akron-Summit County Public Library $1,000 a month to operate an eatery offering sandwiches, salads and desserts for library patrons.
''This is not a moneymaker for the library, but it is a good collaboration between two community agencies,'' library director David Jennings said.
This will be the second time the library has contracted for a cafe in its new building at 60 S. High St.
The library signed an eight-year lease with Todd Plone and the Brain Food Cafe of Stow in 2005 to operate the 1,800-square-foot cafe seating 40 people inside and 36 outside.
When Plone closed the cafe in July because he said it was not making money, library officials sued for breach of their lease.
Library officials maintain they are owed $39,000 for rent and reimbursement for their costs to build out the cafe space to suit Brain Food's needs.
The case was assigned to Judge Patricia Cosgrove in the Summit County Common Pleas Court.
This time, Hattie Larlham will absorb the cost of any construction changes it requires to open in three or four months, Jennings said.
Earlier this month, Hattie Larlham opened a cafe employing eight people with disabilities in the former Cafe Momus on Brown Street near the University of Akron. The first Hattie's Cafe opened in 2006 in Hudson.
All the cafes provide employment opportunities with competitive wages for people who might otherwise not have them, Larlham representatives have said.
The organization provides services to 1,400 children and disabilities and adults with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.