New Deal Cafe

{{Short description|Restaurant operated as a consumers' cooperative}}

The New Deal Café is a restaurant, music venue and community coffee house in the historic Roosevelt Center of Greenbelt, Maryland. It is a rare example of a restaurant operated as a consumers' cooperative,{{Citation

| last = Knepper

| first = Cathy D.

| authorlink =

| title = Greenbelt, Maryland: A Living Legacy of the New Deal

| publisher = JHU Press

| year = 2001

| location = Baltimore, Maryland

| page = 218

| url = http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title_pages/1680.html

| isbn = 0-8018-6490-9

| access-date = 2008-07-07

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080517100506/http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title_pages/1680.html

| archive-date = 2008-05-17

| url-status = dead

}} as it is owned by over 200 member patrons.{{cite web

| title = New Deal Cafe Members Area

| publisher = New Deal Cafe

| url = http://www.newdealcafe.com/about/members.php

| accessdate = 2007-09-07}}

The café, which has a small beer/wine bar in its back room, features nightly and some daytime performances by regional musicians,{{Citation

| last = Halpern

| first = Sue

| title = New Deal City

| newspaper = Mother Jones

| date = May–June 2002

| accessdate = 2007-07-07

| url = https://www.motherjones.com/commentary/commons/2002/05/commons.html }} and sponsors several outdoor music festivals each year, including the Crazy Quilt Festival and the Greenbelt Blues Festival. The café walls are decorated with art by local artists, which is changed bi-monthly. The arts and entertainment activities are supported by the Friends of New Deal Café Arts (FONDCA),[http://www.newdealcafe.com/fondca/default.php Friends of New Deal Café Arts (FONDCA)] a separate, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. The New Deal Café won WTOP radio's Top-10 2012 best music venue in the DC region.{{Citation

| last = Basch

| first = Michelle

| title = New Deal Cafe wins WTOP's Top 10 for best music venue

| url = https://wtop.com/41/2957706/New-Deal-Cafe-wins-WTOPs-Top-10-for-best-music-venue

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120725165838/https://wtop.com/41/2957706/New-Deal-Cafe-wins-WTOPs-Top-10-for-best-music-venue

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = 25 July 2012

| accessdate = 7 March 2013 }}

The café's menu offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, as well as a variety of smoothies and coffee beverages. The café is under management by the Greenbelt Consumer Cooperative, commonly known as the Coöp grocery store/supermarket. There is beer on tap and a selection of wines, beer on tap, and bottled beer.

The café is often referred to by customers as "Greenbelt's community living room" or its "third place,” part of the third place movement.

Its name comes from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, which was responsible for the founding of Greenbelt.{{Citation

| last = Riley

| first = Denise

| title = GOOD EATS: The New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt

| newspaper = The Washington Post

| date = 2000-08-17

| url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-30894240.html }}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

History

The New Deal Café was founded by a group of Greenbelt residents in 1995.{{Citation

| last = Holmes

| first = Tamara E.

| title = New Deal Cafe: a community affair

| newspaper = Maryland Gazette

| date = 2003-11-27

| url = http://www.gazette.net/gazette_archive/2003/200348/entertainment/diningoutfeat/189570-1.html }} In November 2004, over 600 people attended an open house to support the project.{{cite web | url = http://newdealcafe.com/about/history.php | title = A Short History of the New Deal Cafe | accessdate = August 11, 2010}} From 1995 to 2000, the café operated as a part-time coffeehouse in the Greenbelt Community Center. In April 2000, the café obtained a lease and opened in its current full-time retail space, which was doubled in size in 2005 with expansion into an adjacent space.{{cite web

| title = New Deal Cafe Business Plan

| publisher = New Deal Cafe

| date = October 10, 2007

| url = http://www.newdealcafe.com/about/documents/2007/business-plan.php

| accessdate = 2007-07-07

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071214092218/http://www.newdealcafe.com/about/documents/2007/business-plan.php

| archive-date = December 14, 2007

| url-status = dead

}} For several years, it struggled without a kitchen on the premises, and its debt increased.{{Citation

| last = Ngbea

| first = Marcus

| title = New Deal Café makes cuts to stay open

| newspaper = Maryland Gazette

| date = 2007-11-01

| url = http://www.gazette.net/stories/110107/greenew170540_32371.shtml }}{{Citation

| last = Hopkinson

| first = Natalie

| title = Co-op Cafe Is Struggling to Survive

| newspaper = The Washington Post

| date = 2001-06-14

| url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-445859.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121020135251/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-445859.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2012-10-20 }} However, in June 2008, the café built a kitchen as part of a four-month renovation, using volunteer and professional contract labor,{{cite news

| title = Renovations bring hope for new start at Greenbelt cafe

| first = Natalie

| last = McGill

| url = http://www.gazette.net/stories/041008/greenew180335_32357.shtml

| newspaper = Maryland Gazette

| date = 2008-04-10

| accessdate = 2010-08-11

}} and contracted restaurant operations with chef Karim Kmaiha and his wife, Maria Almeida, to operate the restaurant.{{Citation

| last = Tousignant

| first = Kristi

| title = New Deal Café hires culinary expert

| newspaper = Maryland Gazette