Specialty coffee shop by special people coming to North Side
SAN ANTONIO - Specialty coffee by special people. That's the slogan of The Mermaid Café, a new gluten-free bakery and coffee shop coming to the North Side.
The dream of Leah Meyer, a 23-year-old San Antonio woman with Down Syndrome, the goal is for 70% of the cafe's employees to have some type of disability.
"Leah is a chef at heart and has always dreamt of having her own restaurant," reads the bio on the website for . "At first we thought it was a fleeting idea, but she has never wavered from it."
From a young age, Leah has loved to bake. She even started her own YouTube series called " ."
"She has been baking with me since she was little bitty," said her mom Karen Meyer. "She's just always been in the kitchen. It's really her passion."
Now Leah is taking that passion to the next level.
"It's been Leah's dream," said her dad Drew Meyer.
"We decided now's the time," added Karen.
Time to open her very own bakery and coffee shop called The Mermaid Café.
"For years we have been talking about what the café would look like, what would be on the menu, and all of the people that would visit," the café's website continues. "One thing we knew for sure is that we wanted it to be a place for people of all abilities to be able to work and make a valuable contribution to society. We want to positively change the perception that people have of those that may be different from themselves."
Located in the Blanco Village shopping center on Blanco Road near Bitters, the café is set to open sometime in early 2025.
"It's going to be a lot of coffee and pastries," said Leah.
"We'll have your espressos, we'll have your lattes, cappuccinos, iced drinks," added Drew. "But then we're also going to have gluten-free baked goods."
Leah has already begun "barista training" and even brought some chocolate chip cookies for your humble correspondent to sample.
"And those are home-baked," I asked her. "Yes, they are," Leah replied. "Is that the kind of thing we might be able to buy here when the store opens," I wondered. "Yes," she told me.
As for who will be serving the coffee and baked goods, "Our goal, our mission, is to employ those with disabilities," explained Drew.
"It's so needed in our community, we want to provide meaningful employment, and everybody is ready," added Karen. "They're lining up. They want a job."
"Customers will be greeted by a wonderful employee such as Leah," said Drew. "Will welcome you into the café and take your order."
According to the bureau of labor statistics, a person with a disability is twice as likely as a person with no disability to be unemployed.
"And I just see how as they get older, they're looking for that purpose," said Karen. "And we want to give that purpose here."
"This is a place where they can have fun, they can be safe, and just have a good time and also serve a really good product to the community," explained Drew.
The location has been secured, the plan mapped out. Now it's time to .
"In order to make our workplace accessible, we will use equipment that requires less fine motor skills, fewer steps when completing tasks, and pictures for those that cannot read, just to name a few," the website explains. "Because of Karen's experience as a speech language pathologist, and Drew's as an operations manager of a food truck company, we know we have the skillset to make Leah's dream a reality."
Again, if all goes according to plan, The Mermaid Café should be ready to start serving customer in just a couple months.
"We are almost at the finish line," said Karen. "We can't wait."
