(Kim Morrison with partner Noelle Alix and daughter Megan)
The breakfast was wonderful!
And the small tables encouraged mingling
Kim Morison told the club about her progress from working in the hotel business in Vermont to thinking that working with pasta would be good and that the Farmington Valley would be the right place. Thus New England Pasta was born 25 years ago in Canton. Later the business moved to Avon Village. Kim married and Megan was born 20 years go. Knowing that Megan had special needs, Kim was ready to throw in the towel. But she persevered. Soon the business moved to Route 44 in Avon, next door to Deep Water Fish Company, where they held forth for twelve years. They needed more space, which the health inspector also encouraged., so they moved to their current location about five years ago.
The food business was changing, and there seemed to be another time to question whether it was time to be done with it - at least the cafe that was part of the new location. People were in a hurry for lunch and the format with wait staff seemed to go too slowly. In her personal life Kim was dealing with the coming end of Megan's educational support. Noelle Alix was part of a group of moms with special needs children. She was an energy lawyer who had moved from Manhattan, largely because her middle daughter Kate had Down syndrome. They were concerned about their daughters' and others with intellectual disabilities who have a very difficult time getting jobs. Such individuals have an unemployment rate of 80 percent. They thought food preparation and sales could offer opportunities to these folks.
Kim know that she couldn't run both the Pasta Cafe as it was configured and develop Beanz as a new sort of endeavor. What became clear was that a cafe which employs approximately 50% intellectually disabled individuals was very exciting to many people in the area. In November 0f 2017 Kim and Noelle worked out a time line for their new restaurant. In June 2018 they met Susan Johnson whose son has cerebral palsy. She, too, wanted to open a cafe for those with special needs. Together they began fundraising for new equipment for the cafe. Special equipment is needed to accommodate those who are differently abled. Later Omar Coffee came in as a partner in the project.
Now they have 3 employees special needs. Among them is Nick Sinacore who works five days a week for 4 to 6 hours. He says it's like a family, and he is so personable that customers want to be there when they can visit with Nick. The whole feeling of the place has changed. There is no wait staff. Counter service works fine. The area has been reconfigured to emphasize comfort, and people seem to stay much longer. The new cafe had a boost from established foot traffic from the Pasta Company. There has been good support from the community, and business is growing beyond the Pasta Company clientele. Beanz is open 7-5 Monday through Friday and 8-5 on Saturday.
There are thoughts about expanding this effort. Two women from Minnesota have contacted Kim and Noelle and want to create a similar operation. The plan now is to go slowly in order to get things right. Our visit seemed to confirm that they are on the right track.