Most people walk into a restaurant knowing just how much their meal will cost, but at Café 180, the motto is a little different.

At Café 180, a non-profit restaurant, there are no set prices on the menus and customers are asked to pay what they can, which includes three payment options: pay what you would typically pay for that meal, pay by volunteering for an hour in exchange for the meal or pay it forward and give a little extra.
Founded in August 2010 by Cathy Matthews and Julie Mihevc, Café 180 has grown over the three years with help from various DU students.

During its’ first year, Café 180 gave away 475 free meals and this year, from January until September they have given away 3324 free meals, according to senior geography major Tommy Crosby from St. Paul, Minn., who has been volunteering at Café 180 since his freshman year in 2010.

As part of a requirement for his Pioneer Leadership Program course, Crosby was required to complete 40 hours of service at a “serve-to-lead site” and his professor suggested he work at a new non-profit, Café 180. After completing all of his hours at the café, Crosby decided he wanted to continue volunteering.

“I went there freshman year to give it a shot and then realized it was nice to be involved in something greater than just at DU,” said Crosby. “People believe, and they find validity in the motto and the goal of the café that everyone should eat regardless of their ability to pay,” said Crosby.

Crosby has gone from an occasional volunteer to a full time paid employee over the past three years. He has helped showcase Café 180 to fellow DU students and members of the community, many of whom have come in as customers and volunteers.

“It’s such a fun place, it’s not even like volunteering, you don’t feel like you are drudging through community service hours. It’s fun, lively and everyone is always joking around,” said Crosby.
Crosby truly believes that the concept of Café 180 is distinctive within the community, yet he is often surprised by how successful it has become.

“One of the coolest parts is just the fact that it’s working, the concept is working, it’s cool to see that people aren’t coming in and taking advantage of the café,” said Crosby. “It’s a model that relies on the inherent goodness of people and people are paying it forward.”

The menu features an assortment of different grilled flatbread pizzas, salads, soups and sandwiches including the sausage and sweet pepper pizza and the French dip sandwich. Crosby recommends the mixed berry salad, although he claims everything on the menu is delicious.

“Every year we are getting closer and closer to our goal of being 100 percent self-sustaining,” said Crosby. “Right now we are about 80 percent self-sustaining, meaning customers walking through the front doors are covering about 80 percent of costs and the rest are covered through private donors, grants and fundraisers.”

Located at 3315 S. Broadway, a few miles from DU, Café 180 is in Englewood and sits on the border of government-assisted housing and the affluent neighborhood of Cherry Hills.

“Every single day you get such a wide array of people coming into the café,” said Crosby. “In the middle of the lunch rush you could have two people that are homeless, a businessman and a mom and her kid that are paying a couple bucks for a meal.”

According to Crosby, a third of the customers aren’t able to pay anything at all.

Crosby has worked hard to help spread the word about the cafe and he even took the initiative this summer to do some marketing on his own. Crosby and a fellow employee were featured on 9 News in August.
“Since we are a non-profit, we have a very limited marketing budget so word of mouth is our biggest way of growing our customer base,” said Crosby.

Over the summer, Café 180 expanded their hours from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. through 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. to accomodate a dinner crowd and as a way to get more customers, Crosby decided to bring in a live music element.

“Food is already a great medium to bring people together and throw music into the mix and it worked out well,” said Crosby.

The Café features an outdoor patio which, according to Crosby, is perfect for outdoor live Jazz music and other acoustic musicians to come and perform while people are eating. The live music will continue throughout the year and Crosby hopes it will catch on in the DU community.

One of Crosby’s main goals this year is to get a larger connection between DU and Café 180.

“There are so many different organizations and sororities and fraternities that need philanthropy events or different classes that require community service hours, things of that nature,” said Crosby.
For Crosby, being an employee in a place that is mainly run by volunteers has lots of responsibilities. Whether it’s preparing the food, clearing the dishes, working the cash register or helping train the volunteers, he keeps busy.

“No day is ever the same and it’s so fun because working in any sort of café or restaurant environment is already wacky enough, but then you throw in the element of working at a place that is 95 percent volunteer-run, it’s a wonderful, wacky place to work,” said Crosby.

Students and community members interested in volunteering at Café 180 can get more information at http://www.cafe-180.org/volunteer.