Raleigh’s first pay-what-you-can community café, A Place at the Table (APATT), invites community members to attend its first pop-up café lunch on April 2 at Solas on Glenwood Avenue. The pop-up lunch starts at 11 a.m. and will end at 2 p.m. and guests are encouraged to stop in at whatever time is convenient for them.  

The pop-up café, hosted by Solas and sponsored by KDI Investments and Chick-fil-A, will be Raleigh’s first opportunity to experience the pay-what-you-can café model made world-famous by the One World Everybody Eats Foundation. There are more than 50 of these unique cafés operating in the U.S., and APATT will be the second in North Carolina. The model allows patrons to pay for their meal in one of five ways: to pay what they can afford, to pay a suggested donation, to pay what they would typically pay plus a donation, to pay specifically for someone else’s full meal, or to pay by volunteering. All except volunteering will be acceptable ways to pay at the April 2 pop up lunch as volunteer capacity has been met.

“Because our café won’t officially open until later this year, this will be our first chance to show Raleigh APATT’s true mission—to provide community and healthy food for all regardless of means. It’s one thing to hear about the pay-what-you-can model; it’s a whole different ballgame when you get to experience it first hand,” says Maggie Kane, executive director. “We’re ready to start building and fostering relationships within the community. We’re ready to see this in action.”  

Kane says her team expects between 200-250 guests at the event, and they are preparing by acquiring support from restaurants, chefs and small businesses in the local community. Food and beverage sponsors include Carolina Ale House, Babylon, McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, and Urban Food Group.