05/19/2025
Hey friends. Coming back here to say goodbye to the Cafe.
As you know, we closed down at the end of November. Unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be. We want to thank everyone who came out to give us a try and especially to our regulars--y'all kept us going on the slow days.
Now for anyone that knows me, knows I just can't say bye. I need to give y'all a little context.
As we were getting ready to open, I started having intermittent abdominal pains that I ignored. Unfortunately, I ended up ignoring my appendix getting ready to burst. In fact, 2 days after we got the all clear from the Department of Health to open up the Cafe, my appendix said now or never and I ended up in the ER.
Instead of opening up on that Tuesday (the day of the eclipse), I was getting my appendix removed instead. I'll be frank with y'all--it messed everything up. Our opening was delayed, then I ended up having complications further delaying our opening. Our money was strung really tight and we never would have opened if not for my family coming to save the day. We're a restaurant family, and I am so glad they understood the need I was in. Even with that money though, we couldn't do all the things we originally planned to do thanks to my newfound medical bills(now settled with financial aid, fyi).
Now when we finally opened, I was about 70% and instead of starting with a good foundation, we had to jump right in with a very short soft open before going "live". As y'all saw with the menu and schedule changes, we couldn't ever find our footing. Our location was a little weird, so was our parking lot, and subs probably wasn't the best choice for a concept with other options near the Corner.
We were prepared to come back with a new concept in the spring, but our amazing landlord gave us an option to leave our lease early. With mine and Brittany's health further failing it was the smartest choice for our family.
We'd like to say after a few months of focusing on my health, I am back to work on an new project with a well-known Charlottesville restaurant. Stay tuned because advertising that project will be the true final goodbye for this page.
Thanks for the opportunity to serve the community--that's all we ever really wanted to do, be a place for community to be. While it was a smaller community than I hoped, we still built one and I stand proud on that fact.
Thanks for reading, thanks for the memories, and we look forward to seeing y'all again on this journey called life.
Sincerely,
Shayne
