In Sparks’ Loveton Circle Business Park, Richcroft Inc. is getting ready to flip the “open” sign on the Kahlert Café, celebrating the near-launch with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday. The new farm-to-table spot will be staffed by adults with intellectual and developmental differences and is set up as a job-training café where workers learn food service and basic financial skills. The Naptown Brass Band kept things upbeat at the event, and organizers say they are aiming to serve their first weekday breakfast and lunch crowds by mid-May.
Ribbon-cutting and celebration
The ceremony drew a crowd of community leaders and supporters who were there for more than free coffee. They showed up to back the café’s mission of turning training into a long-term opportunity. “It gives them confidence in themselves, It builds on confidence, gives them hope and belonging to something very powerful,” Kevin Drumheller, CEO of Richcroft, told WBAL NewsRadio. The outlet also noted that the program included live tunes from the Naptown Brass Band and remarks from the foundation supporters who helped get the project off the ground.
Funding and training goals
The café is powered in part by a $150,000 grant from The Kahlert Foundation, which helped launch Richcroft’s "Farm to Able" enterprise. Organizers say the Kahlert Café will double as a classroom, offering hands-on training in food service, customer interaction, and basic financial management to prepare participants for paid work and more independent living.
Richcroft's track record
Richcroft already runs residential and community-based services throughout Central Maryland and has been building up its training resources, including a training kitchen and day service space that the agency plans to use to staff the café, as reported by Baltimore Magazine. Leaders say the Kahlert Café is the next step, using that existing infrastructure to create stable, realistic employment pathways for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
When to visit
Richcroft expects to welcome customers by mid-May, according to WBAL NewsRadio, and the café’s own site still shows a "Coming Soon" banner for its Sparks, MD, location. The Kahlert Café website notes that the shop will serve farm-to-table breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday while operating as a full-time learning floor for trainees.
