Snuggled in the heart of Cedar lies a little cafe that’s making a big impact.
It is a place where everyone is welcome and feels more like a country home than a coffee shop.
Over the years, Coco Cafe has become more of a hub for the community than a place to consume a hot beverage or good cooked meal.
“This is a casual spot where you can come and meet your neighbour and you can come by yourself and end up at a table of six,” said Melanie Cadden, the cafe’s general manager.
Recently, Coco Cafe was named a finalist for the 2016 Small Business B.C. Awards in the category of Best Community Impact. The winners will be announced on Feb. 26 at the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel.
“When we found out we were nominated we were really excited because we have been growing the business for the last five years,” Cadden said.
Coco Cafe first opened its doors in June of 2011, after four families partnered up and decided to create a place of employment for their disabled children.
“They all had adult children with developmental disabilities … and they live out in a rural area and there is no transportation and no day programs, so it is really easy to become isolated,” Cadden said. “What they wanted to create was a space so that their children could get real work experience.”
And that’s exactly what has happened, not only for the founder’s children but others in the area. Today, Coco Cafe has around 33 full and part-time employees, with roughly 50 per cent having some form of a developmental disability.
“It is really hard for a person with disabilities to get hired and to get that experience so they [the owners] wanted to create a safe environment where they could be hired and learn gainful skills that would help them in all aspects of life, whether it is cooking here or at other restaurants or at home,” Cadden said.
Coco Cafe offers a wide variety of pastries as well as breakfast and lunch menus. Many of their ingredients are purchased locally and everything is made from scratch.
“We make our own bread, we make our own sauces and dressings and that is the best way to train and give the most skills to our supported employees, but also we believe in quality food,” Cadden said.
Coco Cafe’s work experience program is designed to give real-world working experience at the cafe on a short-term employment basis. The hope is that the short-term employees will eventually be able to find other longer-term employment within the community.
The program works in a similar fashion to a high school co-op program or apprenticeship. Those hired can work for up to three months or a total of 100 hours, which ever comes first, and will be paid a wage of $15 per hour.
“They can come in for a set contract amount of time and get those skills,” Cadden said. “We will work with them through the different areas so that they can leave with a resume, a reference letter and some skills at the end of the three months.”
With staffing levels completely maxed and no shortage of people inquiring about employment, Cadden said the work program is the ideal solution to continue helping those with disabilities get work experience.
“We will help them get what they need in that time so that they can go out and hopefully find a place in the community that will take them on,” Cadden said.
The program receives no government funding, already employees five individuals and costs the cafe $1,500 per person. In an effort to help as many people as it can, the cafe is allowing individuals to sponsor employees. However, participation is not dependent on outside sponsorship.
“A full sponsorship is $1,500 but a person could sponsor any amount,” Cadden said.
Coco Cafe is also gearing up for expansion of its catering service and is about to offer dinner service beginning later this month. Cadden said the cafe’s success is because of the support it has received from the community over the years.
“It’s the community that made this place,” she said.
