Curt's Café

What Curt's Café does

Curt's Café is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (legally "PS It's Social d/b/a Curts Cafe") founded in 2012 by Susan Garcia Trieschmann in Evanston, Illinois, operating a café-based workforce development model for young adults aged 15–24 facing barriers to employment, including those who are justice-involved, housing or food insecure, or single parents. The organization delivers a 90-day structured program combining work and life skills training, intellectual learning, and wraparound social services, with measurable outcomes including a 5% recidivism rate among participants versus 80%+ state and national averages, and more than 650 students trained since inception. Services are delivered through two physical café locations—2922 Central Street in Evanston and 1766 2nd Street in Highland Park—plus a catering operation, a Dinner & Dialogue community engagement program, and an E-Leader leadership development track.

The underlying technology stack is intentionally lightweight: standard WordPress websites, third-party online ordering via hngr.co, Square payment processing for card transactions, and catering management handled through direct contact. There is no proprietary software platform, no public API, and no mobile app; the product is fundamentally a human-delivered, in-person service where the café environment itself functions as the training platform. Curriculum is augmented by partner-led experiential learning (e.g., Uncommon Coffee Roasters sourcing trips) and a grant-funded community outreach van.

The business model blends earned revenue from café food and beverage sales and corporate/event catering with contributed revenue from foundation grants (notably a $100,000 Impact 100 Chicago transformative grant in 2021), individual donations, corporate sponsors (Whole Foods, KEES), and community fundraising events including an annual gala. Student participation is free; catering and menu pricing are quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors under typical nonprofit structure, with no parent company, no equity, and no public-market listing. Customer reach is concentrated in Cook and Lake Counties in the Greater Chicagoland area.

Name

Curt's Café

Legal name

PS It's Social d/b/a Curts Cafe

Website

https://curtscafe.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Curt's Café is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating two cafés in Evanston and Highland Park, Illinois, that deliver a 90-day workforce development program to at-risk young adults aged 15-24, combining food service training, life skills, and wraparound social services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Workforce Development Services

NAICS

Limited-Service Restaurants (722513), Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515), Restaurants and Other Eating Places (7225)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Independent Neighborhood Cafes (THAFADAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Casual Dining Restaurants (THAFACAB), Breakfast & Brunch Fast Casual (THAFABAL)

Keywords

• Workforce development training
• Youth employment programs
• Culinary vocational training
• Café restaurant operations
• Nonprofit social services

Headquarters

HQ city

Evanston, Illinois

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Café and Catering Sales: Revenue from food and beverage sales at two café locations (Evanston and Highland Park), plus catering services for events and corporate clients.
2. Grant Funding and Donations: Funding from foundations (Impact 100 Chicago), individual donors, corporate sponsors, and community fundraising events including annual galas.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Curt's Café operates two café-restaurant locations (Evanston and Highland Park, Illinois) that serve as both retail food service businesses and vocational training facilities. The organization runs a 90-day workforce development program for young adults ages 15-24 facing barriers to employment, combining hands-on café operations experience with life skills training, case management, mental health support, and employment placement assistance. The cafés serve breakfast, lunch, coffee, and pastries to community patrons while simultaneously functioning as the training environment for program participants.

Product overview

Curt's Café is a nonprofit organization operating two café locations (Evanston and Highland Park, Illinois) that serves as the platform for its workforce development program. The organization offers a unified program combining café operations with workforce training—students receive hands-on experience in food service (front-of-house and back-of-house operations) while participating in a structured 90-day curriculum of work skills, life skills, and wraparound social services. The product portfolio includes two café-restaurants serving breakfast, lunch, coffee, and pastries; catering services; online ordering; and specialized programs like the E-Leader leadership track and Dinner & Dialogue community engagement. The cafés function as both retail food service businesses and training facilities for young adults ages 15-24 facing barriers to employment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Evanston Café The original café-restaurant location at 2922 Central Street, Evanston, operating as both a workforce training facility and a full-service restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, coffee, and pastries to community patrons. Open Tuesday-Saturday 8am-3pm.
• Highland Park Café Second café-restaurant location at 1766 2nd Street, Highland Park, providing food service and workforce training opportunities in Lake County, Illinois.
• Catering Services Off-site catering services featuring prepared foods for corporate meetings, events, and special occasions. Contact via [email protected] or phone 224-330-7171. Pricing is quote-based.
• Workforce Training Program 90-day comprehensive program providing work and life skills training, intellectual learning, and emotional support for young adults ages 15-24 living in at-risk situations in Cook and Lake Counties. Free for eligible participants; includes hands-on café experience, ServSafe certification, financial literacy, and wraparound social services.
• E-Leader Program Leadership development track within the workforce training program that allows students to develop leadership skills while mentoring peers and contributing to the café's mission. Graduates like Elijauh Perry have transitioned into staff roles as Chef's Assistant.
• Dinner & Dialogue Program Community engagement program featuring take-home meals paired with meaningful conversations, which continued during and after the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain program participant engagement.

Quantifiable outcome

• Only 5% recidivism rate vs. 80%+ state/national averages
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Main-Dempster MilecoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 12 June 2026Curt's Café selected as official nonprofit partner for 2026 Evanston Wine Walk. Main-Dempster Mile is a community organization supporting independent businesses in the Main Street and Dempster Street commercial district in Evanston. A portion of event proceeds will be donated to support Curt's mission.
• Art EncounterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead partner for mural project. Art Encounter is an arts organization that pairs with social service organizations for community benefit projects through the City of Evanston and Evanston Arts Council's Community Resiliency grant.
• Uncommon Coffee RoastersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoffee supplier that hosts student educational trips to learn about coffee production. President and owner Guy Darienzo provides hands-on education about coffee sourcing and production.
• Central Pizza PieminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLocal restaurant partnership for 'Pop-Up for Good' fundraising events where percentage of sales donated to Curt's Café.
• Niles Township High School District 219minorGTM or Marketing PartnerDance Marathon fundraiser raising money for Curt's Café and the district's Education Foundation.
• Whole Foods MarketminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommunity Support Days where percentage of sales donated to Curt's Café. Raised $25,575 at one event.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Year Up: National nonprofit that provides six-month workforce training and corporate placement for young adults ages 18–24 from low-income backgrounds. Comparable target population and outcomes focus (employment placement), though Year Up operates in tech and business rather than food service.
• Goodwill Industries International: National nonprofit workforce-development organization operating across multiple industries (retail, logistics, food service). Comparable as a large-scale workforce-development incumbent that has its own food-service training programs, though it is far broader in scope.

Direct peers

• DC Central Kitchen: Washington DC nonprofit that operates a high-volume commissary/catering operation as a workforce training platform for adults facing barriers to employment. Same dual-mission structure (commercial food operation + social-work training) at larger scale.
• Hot Bread Kitchen: NYC nonprofit that incubated immigrant and women-owned food businesses through commercial bakery production, with a strong workforce-development and culinary-skills component. Similar café/bakery plus workforce training platform model.
• Second Helpings: Indianapolis nonprofit that runs a culinary training program for adults experiencing poverty, homelessness, or justice involvement, with meals distributed to social-service partners. Same youth/adult culinary training model as Curt's.
• Café Reconcile: New Orleans nonprofit café that provides culinary training and wraparound social services to at-risk youth ages 16–24. Operates the same café-as-workforce-platform model as Curt's, including a graduation/placement program, and is the closest direct structural analog.
• La Cocina: San Francisco nonprofit food business incubator that supports low-income entrepreneurs launching food businesses. Comparable as a culinary-focused nonprofit that uses food production to create economic mobility for underserved populations.
• Greyston Bakery: Yonkers, NY nonprofit bakery famous for its "Open Hiring" no-questions-asked workforce model. Comparable as a social-enterprise food manufacturer that uses commercial output as a vehicle for workforce development, including workforce reentry.

Regional players

• Heartland Cafe: Long-running independent Chicago neighborhood restaurant/café with community engagement and progressive values. Comparable as an Evanston-area independent café serving a similar demographic, though it does not operate an explicit workforce-training program.

Emerging players

• Common Threads: Chicago-based nonprofit that uses cooking and food education to teach health, nutrition, and life skills to youth in underserved communities. Adjacent in mission (food as a development vehicle for at-risk youth) and geography, but focused on education rather than workforce training.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/curtscafe

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Curt's Café