Ironworks Cafe, a favorite of many east-siders, closed Aug. 14 — but it could come back.
“It may reopen, but probably not before late next spring or summer,” says Becky Steinhoff, executive director of the cafe’s home, the Goodman Community Center, 149 Waubesa St. “The decision to close the cafe had less to do with how much money it was or wasn’t making and more to do with the result of strategic planning results.”
Ironworks opened in October 2008. It offered breakfast and lunch, including sandwiches, salads and sides, but its primary reason for being was to serve a Goodman program called TEENworks. (The first part of its portmanteau name is an acronym for “Teen Education and Employment Network.”)
“The cafe had many positive qualities, both for the young adults and the community,” she says, but the primary goal of the TEENworks program, providing employment skills and high school completion, was not being met. “Relatively few high school students worked in the cafe, and they were the target population we were trying to reach.”
When Ironworks was launched, it partnered with a vocational program at nearby East High School. Budget cuts at East during the 2013-2014 school year ended that. Post-high school young adults filled in, but “the conclusion was that the cafe, as wonderful as it was, did not help the TEENworks program reach its goals,” says Steinhoff.
Instead, Goodman is investing more effort and energy in catering, which is still a mission aligned with TEENworks priorities, and which employs around 75 high school students annually, after school and on weekends.
“Catering is mostly on-site, but we do off-site catering as well,” says Steinhoff. “Our new model will expand off-site catering, as well as meal delivery to meetings, boxed meals for events, and so on.”
As for Ironworks, Derek Kruzicki, the center’s facility operations director, is working on a potential new business plan. A revived cafe may serve as a model employment program for adults with disabilities.
Meanwhile, “We are going to keep the space open to the public to gather,” says Steinhoff. “We recognize that the cafe offered a place for the general public to be in the center. This is important and we don’t want to cut that out. We are still going to have good coffee available for purchase in the lobby.”
