Simultaneously Serving Luxe Dishes and The Greater Community at Cafe Momentum

By Olivia Miller

With their eclectic menu featuring heaping portions of entrees ranging from fried chicken and mashed potatoes to Thai inspired drunken noodles, Cafe Momentum is the newest addition to Pittsburgh’s upscale dining scene. However, they serve a much greater purpose not only to their staff but also to the Pittsburgh community as a whole by employing youth involved in the criminal justice system.

Cafe Momentum was originally started in 2015 in Dallas, Texas by Chad Houser who was on a mission to establish a business that would help youth in the criminal justice system. The restaurant expanded to include a location in Nashville, Tennessee before planning the Downtown location in 2019. Executive Director Gene Walker describes the meeting between local grantmaking bodies and Houser, who was looking to expand, as “perfect timing.” Though the opening of the location was delayed a bit by the pandemic, “the conversation wasn’t lost” and the team pushed through to establish the outreach program and open the restaurant on March 1st, 2023.

According to Walker, Pittsburgh was the perfect market for an establishment like Cafe Momentum because of the combination of a “strong philanthropic community” and the lack of a juvenile detention center. This “provides opportunities to work with young people differently” instead of placing them on probation or moving them out of the county on placement which often “causes damage and trauma to the person.”

He says that it is important now more than ever to support youth in the criminal justice system because “younger people are criminalized for less and less offenses.” It is hard for them to rebound from their mistakes in the eyes of others and be able to create a future that allows them to live up to their true potential.

This is a personal issue for Walker who was “faced with a lot of opportunities to do the wrong thing [growing up] but was steered in a different direction by an adult.” He wants to fill the role of that adult in many of these childrens’ lives and show them that they “don’t have to be defined by the worst day of their life.” He encourages others to reflect on “taking care of yourself as a 15-16 year old with no one to tell you what to do.”

He finds that “[helping] them create a vision for the future” is “one of the coolest things you could do in life.” He quotes Dave Ramsey saying “if you help enough people get what they want, you get what you want” and feels “if I can help enough people, I can live a life that has purpose.”

The Cafe Momentum program is not just about employing youth, it is about providing them with stability and education so they “have the foundation to walk into any restaurant in the world [and get a job]”. They offer youth a 12 month long internship where they cycle between 9 different stations before they are able to start working on the floor of the restaurant. Cafe Momentum is a “one stop shop for [the youth] to come and have most if not all their needs met” and offers the students a place to learn about community service opportunities, a quiet place to take online classes or work towards their GED, as well as a place to work on life skills like anger management and parenting.

When guests visit the restaurant and tuck into a decadent goat cheese and mushroom appetizer or a luxe dessert garnished with edible flowers, Walker wants them to first and foremost “experience one of the best meals they have had in their life.”

He also wants them to be mindful of the staff and realize “the young people that they would be likely to avoid are just like them.” He notes the possibility of the diners’ status of having “enough resources to go out to eat and spend $50-60” may allow them to normally avoid the youth who are now serving them. He says breaking those barriers and “putting young people and diners in an uncomfortable place” allows for “special things [to] happen.” It “breaks down the stigma of juvenile justice” and humanizes both parties to each other which “creates a cool kind of synergy.”

Walker’s ultimate goal with Cafe Momentum is to “become known as a top notch, world class restaurant.” Longevity is also one of his goals as he wants to “impact as many lives as we can” which will lead to “more change in communities.” As the establishment continues to expand, he wants The Golden Triangle location to “be the model for which every Cafe Momentum across the country is modeled after.”

For more information about how Cafe Momentum brings the classroom to the dining room and vice versa or to browse their menu, visit their website here.