News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The future home of the Outlaw Café.
A student-operated restaurant called the Outlaw Café will open in Sisters in the next school year, funded through grants secured by the Community Action Team of Sisters.
The deli will be located in the New Sisters Village next to CATS offices in the space formerly occupied by Mother Mack's restaurant. The space is already set up as a restaurant from that enterprise.
According to CATS director Lorri Craig, the Outlaw Café will serve breakfast and lunch on Mondays through Wednesdays, and will be open as a gathering place for teens on Friday and Saturday nights.
Student workers will earn credits for working there in affiliation with the Sisters High School culinary arts program.
"This is an educational situation here," said Craig. "We're training students to work in this restaurant."
CATS and high school staff and administrators envision involving other school programs in the enterprise. Students working in the school's greenhouse might supply decorative plants and herbs for the deli; art students could create pottery, hang wall art and do textile treatments for the windows; students would create a business plan.
"We want this to be student directed," Craig said.
The Outlaw Café won initial funding of $25,000 from the Central Oregon Community Investment Board (COCIB). According to Craig, the project has preliminary approval for $10,000 more from the Northwest Area Foundation's Central Oregon Partnership.
Dave Elliott, who owns Ali's Town Square Deli in Sisters, questions the use of public money through grants to start up a business that will compete with private enterprises.
Craig doesn't consider the Outlaw Café a competitor.
"I think it's a different niche market," she said. "We want to do different things -- maybe crepes for breakfast --something nobody else does."
Craig believes that the kids who will be regulars at the Outlaw Café probably aren't regular patrons at other restaurants.
"I question that it will be much of an impact," Craig said.
Restauranteurs may not see it that way. Elliott says he has a regular high school lunch crowd.
"I rely on their business during the winter," Elliott said.
He believes many other restaurants would also feel an impact during the slow season if the teen crowd went elsewhere.
"If they swear it's not going to hurt us, I think they're wrong," Elliott said.
Jim Cheatham, owner of The Gallery Restaurant, says he's not upset about potential competition, but he remains "totally opposed" to the project.
Cheatham said that if students are interested in learning the restaurant business, the local restaurants provide that opportunity.
"They're not there; there's no interest," Cheatham said.
"They're not in the work force now," he said. "If they had (the Outlaw Café) it would just be an excuse to get out of the classroom to do something fun."
Cheatham said the students need to be taught life skills -- and they could be taught some of them in the classroom for a lot less money than is being spent on the café.
He argued that the teens who do apply for a job have no idea how to present themselves.
"You should see how they dress to apply for a job," he said.
And, Cheatham said, they are unwilling to work their way up from the hard, basic jobs to the plum positions.
"It's hard work and they want to start at the top," Cheatham said. "They want the fun jobs first."
But CATS has high hopes that the project will be a benefit to the students.
"My take on it is that it was going to be something that is a real experience for kids," said CATS member Bob Grooney.
Grooney said the café will offer entertainment to teens and business experience in a supervised, educational atmosphere.
Craig noted that the project will have to fly on its own merits to keep going. She said the café will have to at least break even, although CATS is hoping it will turn a profit.
"We're looking for profit centers, although we'll have to see if this is a profit center or not," she said.
Craig said she is happy to meet with anyone with interest in or concerns about the project.
The Outlaw Café will probably open a couple months after the beginning of the school year to allow students time to prepare and decorate the facility and organize business plans and staff.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
Reader Comments(0)