Category Archives: Common Table Stories

Volunteering leads to great things!

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Everyday I work with volunteers at the Common Table. I am a self
proclaimed “Volun-steerer”. I see new people all the time and each has there own
personal reason to volunteer. Studies say that to give of your self reduces your own
stresses and life challenges and actually leads to a more fulfilling life. I truly
believe this to be true!

One evening I was working with a very polite young man who was volunteering.
I did my usual check-in with him and asked about his life and what he was doing to keep
himself busy. He shared that he wasn’t stoked on his job and was challenged to find a
worthy job here in Bend. He was currently subjected to graveyards shifts at a local fast
food restaurant.

I shared with him some of my fine dining experience and showed him a couple
tricks of the trade. I was so impressed at his natural ability with our guests and his drive
to take the initiative to deep clean the service area and he even scrubbed the table bases!
Later that evening, he shared with me that he had little experience in the business and it
was hurting his chances that he didn’t have a solid references to call on. After working
with this driven young man and being very impressed with his go getter attitude I offered
my contact information as a personal reference.

Three days later I received a call asking me to give a reference
for this same young man. I relayed to this employer my experience with him and
explained how driven and well mannered this guy was. I was very excited after talking to
this nice down town restaurant. It was my first personal reference for a volunteer via
the Common Table.

A few more days passed and I was starting to wonder what had happened with
the job. I clocked in and started my evening shift when in walks our hero! He runs up to me,
gives me a great big hug and literally and says “thank you so much, I GOT THE JOB!!!”
I felt so proud to help out some one who is so giving of their selves and to the Bend
Community! See volunteering does lead to good things!

-Darla Turk

Common Table in The Bulletin:

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from The Bulletin:

Bend restaurant takes different path

Common Table to operate as nonprofit, offer food vouchers for underprivileged

By David Holley By Kate Ramsayer / The Bulletin The Bulletin

Last modified: June 29. 2010 5:44AM PST
A group of Central Oregonians is planning to open a nonprofit restaurant in downtown Bend in August that will use excess funds from its sales to provide free meals to low-income and homeless community members.

The cafe, to be called Common Table and run by a group with the same name, is opening in the space on Oregon Avenue formerly occupied by Cork, a fine-dining restaurant that sold its assets to Common Table and closed earlier this month after nine years in operation. The cafe’s premise is to create a space for both privileged individuals, who pay for meals, and the underprivileged, who will receive donated meal vouchers, to dine together, said cafe organizer Zach Hancock.

“We wanted to value humans, humanity, and highly value the Earth (on) which we live,” Hancock said. “We have a high priority to be a good contribution to Bend.”

To operate as a nonprofit, Common Table must donate a certain amount of its revenues, about 15 to 20 percent, according to group members. It will do that through the vouchers, which work like gift cards and allow individuals to use them as if they were cash.

Common Table signed a three-year lease Friday for the former Cork space, and is now renovating the restaurant. The group is in discussions with other nonprofits, such as NeighborImpact and the Family Access Network, which may distribute the vouchers, said Bob Pearson, a group founder and Bend resident who moved here nine years ago after retiring from a career in California’s Silicon Valley.

Pearson said customers will be able to buy vouchers at a discounted rate and give them to people asking for money on the street. A $10 voucher might cost a customer $8, he said.

“For most people, they come by and it’ll look like any other restaurant,” Pearson said.

He said the restaurant will have box lunches for people who may need a shower, adding that they won’t turn people away who need a meal, but that the restaurant, like any other, will still maintain requirements for dining inside.

Nonprofit restaurants aren’t new.

John Hamilton, vice president of communications for the Oregon Restaurant Association, said most restaurants participate in some kind of philanthropic activity. Others have operated on a pay-what-you-will basis to determine the value of food and market positioning with limited success, he said.

“One of the truths in our industry is that nine out of 10 restaurants are engaged in philanthropic activity,” Hamilton said. “Everyone’s doing something.”

Pearson thinks that nonprofits like his will become more common.

A Missouri-based national restaurant chain, Panera Co., made headlines for having opened a nonprofit restaurant where customers can pay the suggested menu price but don’t have to, according to a June 25 article by The Associated Press. Paying more or less is allowed, and most people pay the suggested cost or more, according the article.

The nonprofit, run by the same company that has about 1,400 Panera Bread restaurants in 40 states, made $100,000 in revenues during its first month, the AP said.

“This is catching some real interesting steam in this new economy, where corporations are recognizing they have to do more than just make a profit,” Pearson said.

Common Table can only put suggested prices on its cafe menus because it’s a nonprofit, Pearson said, but it will model its menus to encourage people to pay at least those prices — likely ranging from $3 to $15.

Pearson said the group received a low-cost deal for the downtown space because it’s a nonprofit. It will use $280,000 in donated or pledged funding to renovate the building and to pay for other necessary costs during the next three years.

Most of the staff will be volunteers, but cooks and certain management positions, including Hancock, will be paid.

Common Table also plans to use Pacific Northwest products, most of which will be locally grown, said Hancock,. Common Table has its own community garden off Knott and Brosterhous roads in southeast Bend.

Both Hancock, who said he previously operated a nonprofit coffee shop in Colorado, and Pearson said the cafe is not meant to be a soup kitchen. They said it will serve high-quality breakfasts and lunches. At night, it will host events ranging from concerts to speakers to group discussions with meals themed around the event. It also will have a liquor license.

“It’s about giving dignity and respect to all,” Hancock said.

150 Oregon St.

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Yesterday we used our new keys and  began the process of transforming 150 Oregon St. into what will be the Common Table Cafe.  Butcher paper went up over the windows, Common Table Cafe stenciled in black.  The old Cork letters were removed  - no easy task as they had been baked on by the sun over nine years.  Many folks stopped and chatted on the busy Bite of Bend Sunday.  Projected date for opening is less than eight weeks away – with plenty of work to do before then!

Common Table Story, pt. 1

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The Common Table Cafe will open in August 2010 in Bend Oregon. This nonprofit cafe will locally source the majority of food and supplies, use volunteers to staff part of the cafe, train local students in the food service industry, train homeless and unemployed workers in the food service industry and be a place for gathering to discuss issues that may exist in the community the state the country and the world.

The food provided will be world class and most patrons will pay for the food just like any other restaurant. Some vouchers will be provided to people from other nonprofits where people in need can work on things like food banks, community gardens, community improvement projects, etc.

This operation is self sustaining. Our unique and world changing idea is as follows. We will be implementing a unique way to solve a major problem in our community. Many people sit on street corners, near supermarkets, in doorways downtown, and along highways asking for assistance, mostly for hunger needs of their families. Most people are conflicted about how to respond. Their hearts go out to these people who seem so desperate they must resort to begging. But most are also reluctant to just give cash, since there is no way to control how this money would be used. The Common Table will offer a better way to respond. By making a donation to Common Table a caring person will receive the equivalent value in tokens worth 10 dollars each that are good for a meal at the Common Table Cafe. People can have these tokens in their car, in their purse or in their pockets and can give them out to anyone asking for food money or other support. These tokens can be redeemed only at the Common Table Cafe for locally sourced, healthy, high-quality meals.

The Common Table is not a soup kitchen, but a quality restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. It will have large common tables so that economically challenged individuals and families will sit next to local politicians, local business people, local students and average local residents. This intermixing of economic classes will be a unique gift to the community.

The Common Table token program will benefit the planet by offering a new unique idea that will spread to other cities and other countries, and make a significant dent in hunger and reduce the incidence of begging on the corners, etc.