Last updated: December 5, 2023

In the Weeds

Turnover can cause even some of the city’s best restaurants to have a stretch of off nights. Cooks leave, and the kitchen survives through temporary chaos as a replacement is found and retrained. At Community Matters Café, open for breakfast and lunch near Bank of America Stadium, this turnover is scheduled, even embraced, and somehow, the restaurant never suffers.

Community Matters Café is a non-profit restaurant, run by the Charlotte Rescue Mission. The restaurant takes advantage of the city’s need for hospitality workers by training graduates of the Rescue Mission in restaurant work, and helping to place them in jobs after graduation. Each student, who has battled drug addiction but became sober during their time with the Rescue Mission or The Dove’s Nest, spends time in the coffeeshop, kitchen, and working as a server, as well as getting life skills training and health department certification.

Through these frequent changes in staff, Community Matters Café has an impressive leadership staff keeping the customer experience consistent. Executive chef Nick Kepp oversees the kitchen, pastry chef Ashley Anna Tuttle (formerly of Haymaker) manages the bread and dessert programs, and Jenny Birch Villapando (formerly of The Asbury) is the restaurant’s manager.

Kepp has masterfully created a menu that gives students a strong basic kitchen background and can be easily managed without sacrificing flavor. The BLT, for example, is a simple sandwich, but becomes a standout with Tuttle’s bread and local ingredients. The benefit of eating food prepared by a kitchen in training is that the basics are paid much attention to; the bread comes toasted just as it should be, for example. The fried chicken sandwich is crispy and flavorful, again served on bread made in-house, this time Challah. Though small, the lunch menu — with about six sandwiches and a couple of salads — consistently impresses, even without considering the restaurant’s mission and the frequent turnover of students.

In the front of the space — with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out at Uptown and the stadium — is the coffee shop, with espresso drinks, fair trade coffees, delicious pastries. The birthday cake cookie, a sugar cookie with cream cheese icing rolled in sprinkles, is a must-order.

There’s an aura of gratitude emanating from the staff that envelops the entire restaurant. You would never know the struggles that your server has been through, but you know they must have seen dark times in order to be here. Service is friendly — familial, even — and fast. Through darkness, it seems the staff at Community Matters Café has learned to appreciate the light even more, inspiring you to do the same.

Dine here, and you’ll be contributing to a worthy non-profit. That’s not what will bring you back to Community Matters Café, however. What will bring you back is the well-cooked meal and the friendly service, even though by the time you come back, the people who made it so memorable may have moved on to their new jobs and lives. There may be some new faces, but the feeling you get here will remain the same. —Kristen Wile