Author: Jim Jones
Aug. 10, 2018 – The Dix Café held its grand opening Friday to an enthusiastic crowd that sampled cinnamon buns, cake and drinks and admired the renovated space at 100 Cafeteria Road.
DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen joined Cynthia Speight, Director of the Division of Services for the Blind, at a ribbon cutting at the front doors. They thanked those involved in bringing the café online and those attending for their support.
"We’ve needed a place to get coffee, a place to see our friends and colleagues, to interact in an informal way. This is going to be a place for getting together for fun, joy and problem solving for the department," Secretary Cohen said. "The café is also intended as a training center to help folks who are visually impaired gain the skills they need to be successful."
The café is a project of the Division of Services for the Blind and its Business Enterprise Program. Speight noted the café’s mission.
"The true purpose for this location is to function as a model training facility operated by the Business Enterprises Program that will serve individuals who are legally blind desiring to pursue a career path in foodservice and vending," she said. "Business Enterprises Program participants receive training and licensure to independently serve as operators of foodservice and vending facilities throughout the state."
The first group of students are expected to begin training at the café in January 2019.
Dix Café is open to the public. Hours are from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., on state work days. The menu includes smoothies, wraps, salads and sandwiches. Lunch specials are available until 2 p.m., and from 2 p.m. until closing at 3 p.m. the café offers snacks.
The café occupies the same space as the former Dix Grill, which closed three years ago. It is on the ground floor and the back side of the McBryde Building on the campus of Dorothea Dix Park.