Create Cafe

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Our Story

About Us Real Food ~ Simply Prepared ~ Greatly Enjoyed. Create Café is about growing and serving organic local food, being sustainable, sharing good vibrations, building community, reducing waste and providing our customers with delicious, vibrant cuisine by means of an outstanding dining experience where people from all parts of our community "break bread" together. We encourage a pay-it-forward philosophy, so that no one goes hungry. We are committed to making the world a better place, starting with our corner of it. We provide (and charge for) scratch-cooked meals in our Café, as well as services such as Full Service Catering and Gourmet Cooking Classes, which have a real and true value to our guests and community. These revenue streams allow us to fulfill our mission of supporting Manitou Springs through programs that promote Self-Sufficiency Education (Healthy Cooking Classes) and Job Training (Culinary Arts Training Program). Additionally, we create jobs, participate in crafting Food Policy and serve as an Advocate for Manitou Springs. Our Vision We envision: • A comfortable, inviting atmosphere, coupled with delicious, healthy, scratch-cooked menu offerings that draw people from all walks of life and entices them to become involved in our community • A social enterprise model that provides a high quality experience for volunteers • An organic community kitchen that serves responsibly-sourced food made with creativity and love, enjoyed at community tables. This is part of what will make it a place that our customers will want to share and return to again and again. • A Café that provides delicious and nutritious food in a respectful and dignified manner to anyone who walks through the door and wants to contribute to our community • Empowering, nourishing and engaging the community of Manitou Springs Our Beliefs We believe: • That good food begins with good relationships---with the growers of our food and with each community member • In being sustainable and being an economic contributor to our community • That everyone deserves to have access to fresh, healthy food. In the tradition of Mabel’s Café, we will offer our guests the opportunity to pay-it-forward and fund a meal for someone in need. • That food should be good and good for you • That it is important to expand fresh, local food opportunities for residents of Manitou Springs • That food, animals and the land should be managed using sustainable, humane practices that promote the long-term health of families and communities • That food should be produced as close to our tables as possible by people who love the soil and care for the land • That participating in a community nourishes the soul • That neither food nor people should go to waste • That the collective wealth derived from the community should be locally reinvested • That, as a community, we should invest in the future and intentionally be good stewards of the present • That promoting local food production practices enhance the long- term sustainability of Manitou Springs’ natural resources • That we can the world a better place, starting with our corner of it • That smart solutions should be shared • That the people who produce our food should earn a just income Our Commitment We promise to: • Be a leader in implementing Plan Manitou’s goal of enhancing access to affordable, healthy, local foods and promoting public investment in a sustainable, resilient food system • Encourage purveyors and producers of healthy, affordable, local foods to establish a presence in Manitou Springs • Be an active participant in positively impacting Manitou Springs through the creation of a sustainable food system, local food production, gardens and by providing access to fresh, healthy food for Manitou’s vulnerable populations • Work to address the root causes of food insecurity, employing a variety of dynamic approaches to nourish the community • Provoke a deeper dialogue about food, hunger, poverty and sustainability in our community • Engage all volunteers, staff and students in meaningful, impactful work that strengthens our community • Operate and make decisions in full view of the community we serve • Invite community leadership to collaborate I creating a thriving social enterprise, engaging volunteers and supporting our Healthy Cooking Classes and job training in the Culinary Arts Training Program • Reclaim, healthy local food that would otherwise be discarded