July 11, 2026
Dear Members and Community:
As you are aware, the New Deal Cafe Board of Directors (BOD) has spent the last several months diligently working to come to a decision on the near-term future of the Cafe.
Throughout this process, we have sought input from a number of our members, volunteers, and supporters as well as those with expertise in nonprofit management and restaurant operations.
In these exchanges, many of you noted that The New Deal Cafe has struggled financially at many points in the past, and has been challenged by an operating model based on partnership between a for-profit and non-profit organization. The current and previous board spent substantial time diving into that history to build our own knowledge of the successes and obstacles of the past.
Others shared ideas on improving our member value proposition, expanding our programming, and increasing focus on our mission, and even ideas on nonprofit food service partner concepts.
All of these inputs were considered as we deliberated on whether to continue our partnership with our current vendor, Kenny Hilliard, beyond the current contract end date.
Kenny has been a change agent for the cafe over the past 18+ months and many of those changes were appreciated by our community.
However, the stark reality was that significant financial missteps by the vendor and consistently declining revenue drained the Cafe’s reserves and has put the Cafe in a precarious position.
The former and current board endeavored to collaborate with Kenny on overcoming these substantial challenges. Despite these efforts, we ultimately were not able to agree on a feasible and financially sustainable plan. Therefore, the BOD agreed not to extend or renew the contract.
We will be working with Kenny and his team in the coming days toward a smooth transition. Simultaneously, we will be coordinating with you all on refining and executing the plan that will sustain the Cafe’s mission as we design our next chapter.
If you would like to volunteer or contribute in any way to this effort in the near-term, please reach out to to let us know.
Warm Regards,
The New Deal Cafe Board of Directors
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