Oklahoma Bean Project Inc.
(Grateful Bean Cafe)
Peter K. Schaffer, Director
204 N. Robinson, No. 2600
Oklahoma City, Okla. 73102
(405) 239-7707
(405) 239-6800 fax

Modeled on the innovative Denver Bean Project, this non-profit organization started out as a small business packaging dry beans for sale, but it quickly moved into the restaurant business in the autumn of 1994 when its operators made a deal to reopen Oklahoma City's famous and historic old Kaiser's Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Parlour as the Grateful Bean Cafe.

The cafe has already become a popular lunchtime spot for neighbors and business people who drop in to the well-kept black-and-white building near downtown, although its location in a downscale neighborhood that's largely deserted after work has made business problematic at night. (It's currently open for business from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. week days, serving hearty breakfasts and a tasty, healthy and predominantly vegetarian selection of salads, soups and sandwiches.)

The cafe provides jobs and job training for more than a dozen employees, called "team members," a combination of job-seekers off the street and unemployed people referred by the state employment service. Workers are paid $6 an hour to start, of which $1.25 is placed in a fund and witheld until they've completed a 90-day training period, at which point they receive the back money -- about $900 -- in a lump sum. In theory, all workers rotate through all jobs in the cafe. In practice, some are more comfortable than others working in public-contact positions such as waiters, so they may trade assignments. The jobs aren't considered temporary; while some employees use the experience to move on to bigger and better things, others stay.

It costs about $13,000 a month to break even, Schaffer said, and unfortunately, the Cafe is only making about half that much as of early 1995. Some of the difference is made up by the sale of dry beans, T-shirts, teabags and other small items; the rest -- about $250 a day -- comes from grants. "We can't do that indefinitely," Schaffer says. "We're doing our best to improve the business through quality, value and service." They seem to be making the right moves. I enjoyed a delicious lunch the day of my visit, and the service was fine.

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