New-concept dining helps Calvary Chapel Downey store draw customers from local community

Chapel Store & Café, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Downey in Downey, Calif., recently opened a new café to reach the community. While other dining concepts have not worked well at the church, the new café has become a celebrated place for the congregation, designed to facilitate fellowship and draw customers. 

In the past, the café was run separately from the store. But the café’s various formats, including a Mexican restaurant, didn’t prove to be financially successful. 

“Last April, the church decided that they wanted to get out of the restaurant business and asked me to come up with a proposal of how the store could take it over and come up with a new model for it,” said Manager Jeff Craft.

This time around the store is employing a concept similar to retailers like Barnes & Noble with a café inside, according to Assistant Manager Chris Craft, who oversees operations with her manager husband.

“We wanted to give it a vibe more like a coffeehouse or a snack bar,” Jeff said. “We wanted it to be a bookstore with a coffee bar inside. That’s basically what we did.”

Head Barista Monique Lemus is one of the café’s devoted staff members. Chris Craft attributes much of the success of the venture to “the passion that Monique and the volunteers have for what’s happening.”

The 2,200-square-foot store and 1,500-square-foot café are open the same hours. They are in separate buildings with only an 8-foot space between them and a pull-down door. Product and seating was rearranged for the new set-up. 

“We moved some of our store product over into the café, including a selection of greeting cards,” he said. “Then, we kept a big section with chairs. We also wanted to concentrate on doing a good job with the coffee and all of the different specialty drinks.”

Drinks like the “Grizzly Chill” attract those who are on campus, including youth from the Calvary Chapel Christian School. Guests from nearby schools and other local businesses frequently stop by for their menu favorites. The new menu includes sandwiches, snacks and drinks. 

The manager said one of the biggest challenges has been getting the word out to the more than 6,000 church members about the change. The store aims to do that with Sunday morning PowerPoint presentations, bulletin inserts, email newsletters and Facebook. As part of its branding, the store has a new logo and a new lighted Chapel Store & Café street sign.

“People are still finding out, and will still be disappointed that they can’t get their burger or chicken strips,” he said.

The staff consists of four full-time employees and two part-timers, and is supported by a pool of volunteers. They include a half-dozen workers from the women’s home and men’s home ministries of the church and six to eight additional volunteers from the church body.