The has chosen to operate the cafe at the newly reopened Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, and Jos茅 Andr茅s’ will consult on the cafe’s operation and menu.
There will also be hospitality-sector apprenticeships for D.C. residents.
The library, at 901 G St. Northwest, reopened in September after a three-year, $211 million complete renovation.
The building鈥檚 renovation added a 4,300-square-foot ground-level cafe connected to a new outdoor garden, and a new fifth floor that includes a 14,900-square-foot rooftop, event space and catering kitchen
will manage catering services in the rental spaces.
The new cafe, named “Marianne鈥檚 by D.C. Central Kitchen,” after Marianne Ali who led D.C. Central Kitchen鈥檚 joint-training program and who passed away in 2017, will be managed by D.C. Central Kitchen, which has tapped Andr茅s to consult on the cafe鈥檚 operation and menu development.
The cafe will provide on-the-job training to youth and adults, and will house the first hospitality-sector apprenticeship program in the District. ThinkFoodGroup and Occasions Caterers will work with D.C. Central Kitchen to offer jobs and internships.
鈥淭his cafe and catering partnership with D.C. Public Library will help transform how American cities imagine the role and combined power of libraries and nonprofits,鈥� said D.C. Central Kitchen CEO Mike Curtin Jr.
鈥淲e are honored to help carry forward the legacy of Dr. King while honoring the memory of our beloved colleague Marianne Ali, who embodied the values of D.C. Central kitchen by affirming the worth, dignity and potential of everyone she met and educated.鈥�
D.C. Public Library held a virtual ribbon cutting for the new library on Sept. 24. It expects the library to see 1 million visitors a year.
