More Than a Meal: How One Restaurant Chain is Redefining Opportunity for Justice-Involved Youth

Share

Link copied!

For many young people, the path to opportunity is full of obstacles. For justice-involved youth, these challenges can be even greater, limiting access to education, employment and the stability needed to build a successful future. At Café Momentum, a nonprofit network of award-winning restaurants and training programs, these obstacles are transformed into pathways toward brighter possibilities. The name itself, Café Momentum, reflects the mission: to spark positive change and build unstoppable momentum for young people, communities and systems alike.  

Program Model & Impact 

Café Momentum was founded in 2015 in Dallas, Texas, by Chad Houser, then a rising star in the Dallas culinary scene. Since then, Café Momentum has opened additional restaurants in Pittsburgh and Atlanta and has gained national recognition as a model for empowering young people (ages 15-19) with the stability, skills and support they need to succeed.  

Through Café Momentum paid internships, participants are trained in every aspect of operating a fine-dining restaurant and gain experience in various aspects of restaurant operations, including cooking, serving and bussing. Simultaneously, they receive critical support, including mental health services, case management, academic guidance, financial education and job placement assistance. Throughout the program, interns progress through a structured, tiered system, with each milestone building greater responsibility, stability and preparation for life beyond the program. 

Café Momentum is more than just a restaurant; it’s a community of support. An adjoining Community Services Center provides interns with resources to help them succeed, including career development services, therapy and mentoring spaces. As a result, in 2024, 90% of Café Momentum interns complied with or completed court orders and 69% earned industry-recognized certifications. 

Expansion to Atlanta 

In March 2025, Café Momentum opened in downtown Atlanta at 200 Peachtree Street. Café Momentum Atlanta aims to serve at least 80 interns in its first year, with a goal of 100% program completion and job placement in living-wage careers. The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation has invested $250,000 in Café Momentum as part of its commitment to creating economic stability for residents of Atlanta’s historic Westside, ensuring access to critical workforce development support and empowering residents with education, training and job placement opportunities. The inaugural cohort of Café Momentum Atlanta will welcome at least 15 interns from the Westside’s Vine City and English Avenue neighborhoods. With Café Momentum’s proven impact, the program will serve as a catalyst for change, equipping Westside young adults with the skills and opportunities needed to build a path toward economic stability and a brighter future. 

Personal Reflection & The Future of Youth Justice & Workforce Development 

Chad Houser, Café Momentum’s Founder and CEO, recently met with the foundation for a Q&A about Café Momentum and what it means to provide opportunities for justice-involved youth. 

Q: What inspired you to found Café Momentum? 

A: After college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but I had the luxury of time to figure it out. I ended up going to culinary school, wanting to own a restaurant and be a chef. In 2007, I bought into a restaurant in the Uptown area of Dallas and became chef and co-owner. A year later, I volunteered to go inside a juvenile detention facility to make ice cream for an ice cream competition against college culinary students at a farmer’s market. 

The moment I met the eight young men from the detention facility, I felt such shame because I realized I had stereotyped them, labeled them and judged them. It wasn’t just that I was wrong; I thought I was a better person, and I wasn’t. I spent several hours teaching those young men to make ice cream while they spent that time teaching me who they were. Two days later, they were bused down to the farmers market, wearing jail-issued clothes, standing alongside college students with chef pants and chef coats. One of them won the whole competition and was so excited. He told me he loved to cook and wanted to get a job in a restaurant when released from detention. 

I drove home that day, feeling excited, angry, inspired and frustrated because I knew he was never going to make it to Wendy’s or Chili’s. I knew his story; he was going back to the same house, same neighborhood, and all the things that pushed him to detention wouldn’t change. This started me on a journey.  

I acknowledged that our lives have been dictated by choices made for us before we were born because of the color of our skin and socio-economic class. I realized the tale of two worlds and the systems steeped in racism. I started volunteering more time in the detention facility, teaching cooking classes and listening. The staff repeatedly used the words “consistency” and “stability,” and the kids told me stories about trying to access these. This led to the initial idea for Café Momentum: creating a space that provides consistency and stability for these kids in ways they were asking for. 

Q: Awareness is just step one, right? 

A: Awareness, acknowledgment and then action. Even today, 17 years later, there’s a constant evolving awareness and acknowledgment. It’s easy for folks to heap praise on me, but there’s a fragility in that. It’s the fragility of saying, “Oh, but he’s helping them,” when it’s really them helping themselves. I just provide the space. 

Q: When you first pitched this idea, what challenges did you face in turning it into reality, and how did you overcome them? 

A: I went around telling people I wanted to open a restaurant working with justice-involved youth. I was told things like, “What are you gonna do when the kids stab each other in the kitchen?” and “Those kids don’t want to work; they just want to collect a check.” People said those kids had never been to a nice restaurant and couldn’t cook my food. I realized these were the messages the kids were being told repeatedly. 

I thought, “How is this young person ever going to succeed if the world keeps telling them this is all they ever are?” The world wouldn’t say that if they took the time to meet them. I created proximity through monthly pop-up dinners at top restaurants in Dallas, where the kids worked alongside chefs and served guests. The first dinner sold out in 24 hours, and every attendee said, “This could be my son.” That was it; I knew we had something. 

Café Momentum Dallas is still ranked as one of the top restaurants in the city, and Café Momentum Pittsburgh was named one of the best new restaurants of 2023. This success sends a message that our kids can and will rise to the level of expectation set for them. 

Q: What makes the program so effective? 

A: The program was designed by the very population we serve. Our kids know exactly what they need to achieve their full potential. Our role is to provide access to it. We focus on workforce development, 24/7 case management, mental health and education. These elements were designed by our kids. 

The second thing is the kids are coming to the restaurant, leaving their neighborhoods for the first time, and hearing a message from our guests that they believe in them. This creates a space for our kids to see themselves as part of a bigger community, which is empowering. 

Q: Why was Atlanta the right city for expansion, and what excites you most about this new location? 

A: Atlanta is a special place. We look for understanding in the juvenile justice system, the state of affairs in the city and interest in our work. We believe communities are not monolithic, so our objective is to listen, learn and earn trust. Atlanta is a great city to expand to, and we’re honored to be part of the fabric of folks doing incredible work. 

Q: How do you see this new Atlanta location addressing the unique challenges faced by youth in the Vine City and English Avenue neighborhoods specifically? 

A: Our Executive Director, Benjamin Wills, lives in English Avenue. I hope that the restaurant will spark a much-needed conversation. Vine City and English Avenue can be out of sight, out of mind. I hope that people will stop stereotyping our kids and start asking, “How did this happen?” instead of “Why did they do that?” This conversation is crucial for creating a unique environment that raises awareness of those we serve. 

Q: Looking ahead, what are your hopes for Café Momentum in the next 5 to 10 years? Are there plans for further expansion? 

A: Atlanta is our third market, and we’ve signed a lease in Denver, which should open next year. We’re also exploring Houston and Baltimore. Our goal is to open ten restaurants by 2035. Our objective is not to scale Café Momentum all across the country but to leverage these ten locations to build a national conversation on a new model for juvenile justice. We’re also working with restaurant groups to implement our model into their restaurants, providing more employment opportunities and support for justice-involved youth. We’re also building a flagship Café Momentum in Dallas to train teams from other locations and welcome groups from all over the country. 

Q: What role do you see philanthropy playing in making programs like this sustainable? What does Café Momentum need from the community and philanthropy? 

A: Philanthropy is investing in a community and population that have been historically marginalized and disinvested in. It creates space to address all the historical, generational and systemic designs that have not allowed our young people to achieve their full potential. Philanthropy steps up by investing holistically, not just in one area like school or healthcare. We need people to lean in further, like companies sponsoring our kids to work and helping them navigate corporate culture. This would have a tremendous effect on generational change. 

Café Momentum is transforming young lives by reimagining youth justice and equipping youth with life skills, education and employment opportunities to help them achieve their full potential. This grant aligns with the foundation’s Westside strategy as it will support youth from Atlanta’s Westside neighborhoods to become more economically stable by providing meaningful workforce development opportunities. To learn more about Café Momentum and to book a reservation, please visit cafemomentum.org/restaurant/atlanta.