What Cafe Ohlone does

mak-'amham/Cafe Ohlone is a 501(c)(3) Ohlone cultural institution headquartered in Berkeley, California, founded in September 2017 by Vincent Medina (Chochenyo Ohlone) and Louis Trevino (Rumsen Ohlone). It operates Cafe Ohlone, described as the world's only Ohlone restaurant, with two dining locations: 'ottoytak, a seasonal restaurant in the courtyard of UC Berkeley's Hearst Museum of Anthropology (currently temporarily closed), and 'ammatka Cafe at the Lawrence Hall of Science, offering family-friendly fare Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 3pm. The organization's underlying practice rests on traditional Ohlone culinary knowledge passed unbroken through generations, augmented by 1920s-1930s ethnographic documentation, with ingredients sourced from the East Bay homeland and prepared using indigenous techniques.

The institution runs a portfolio of community programs beyond restaurant service, including cooking classes, gathering trips, high-toned dinners for elders, weekly Chochenyo and Rumsen language classes, cultural sessions, and food drop-offs to Ohlone elders. It also delivers education sessions and organizational consulting to schools, libraries, and science centers (e.g., Berkeley Public Library, Fremont Library, Chabot Space and Science Center). The affiliated mak-warép Ohlone Land Conservancy (EIN 99-4522401) leads land restoration at CSU East Bay, UC Berkeley's Russell Research Station, and Cafe Ohlone sites, with an active fundraising campaign—launched in 2023 with the California Academy of Sciences—to purchase East Bay land for a future culinary and educational center called Ohlone Land.

The organization's revenue model blends three streams: restaurant dining (pricing not publicly disclosed), recurring community offerings/donations at $10, $15, or $25 per month plus one-time and planned/legacy gifts routed through the 501(c)(3), and professional services revenue from group education sessions and organizational consulting. Foundation partners include the Stupski Foundation, Waverly Street Foundation, California Academy of Sciences, and Fidelity Investments (via Benevity workplace giving). The go-to-market is community-led, layered on top of a direct-to-consumer restaurant presence, with no digital products, app, or AI/ML components disclosed.

Name

Cafe Ohlone

Legal name

mak-warép Ohlone Land Conservancy

Website

https://makamham.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

mak-'amham/Cafe Ohlone is a Berkeley-based 501(c)(3) Ohlone cultural institution founded in 2017 that operates the world's only Ohlone restaurant, delivering traditional cuisine at UC Berkeley locations, education sessions, and land-restoration programs for the Ohlone community and East Bay public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Berkeley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Restaurant Dining: Revenue from Cafe Ohlone restaurant operations including 'ammatka Cafe at Lawrence Hall of Science (family-friendly fare, Wednesday-Sunday) and seasonal 'ottoytak dining experiences at UC Berkeley.
2. Community Offerings/Donations: Monthly subscription-style community offerings at $10, $15, or $25 per month to support ongoing Ohlone cultural work. Also accepts one-time donations and planned giving through the affiliated mak-warép Ohlone Land Conservancy (501(c)3).
3. Education Sessions and Consulting: Revenue from education sessions for groups of all ages at 'ottoytak, as well as organizational consulting services delivered to other institutions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Cafe Ohlone operates the world's only Ohlone restaurant, serving traditional pre-colonial and colonial-era Ohlone cuisine across two Berkeley locations—'ammatka Cafe at the Lawrence Hall of Science and 'ottoytak at the UC Berkeley Hearst Museum—while delivering cultural education sessions, organizational consulting, and community programs (language classes, cooking classes, food drop-offs to elders) under the parent cultural institution mak-'amham and the affiliated 501(c)(3) mak-warép Ohlone Land Conservancy.

Product overview

mak-'amham/Cafe Ohlone is an Ohlone cultural institution operating the world's only Ohlone restaurant. The organization runs multiple dining experiences: 'ammatka Cafe at Lawrence Hall of Science (family-friendly, Wednesday-Sunday, 11-3) and 'ottoytak seasonal restaurant at UC Berkeley's Hearst Museum courtyard (currently temporarily closed), along with education sessions and consulting services. The parent cultural organization, mak-'amham (meaning 'our food' in Chochenyo), organizes community programs including cooking classes, gathering trips, language classes, and food drop-offs to elders. The 'ottoy Initiative represents the formal partnership with UC Berkeley to foster understanding of Ohlone culture. The affiliated mak-warép Ohlone Land Conservancy (501(c)(3), EIN 99-4522401) focuses on land restoration and eventual reacquisition of land to Ohlone stewardship.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 'ottoy Initiative: A transformative, reciprocal project at UC Berkeley that aims to foster understanding and respect for Ohlone people and culture, and to repair UC Berkeley's relationship with the Ohlone community.

Products and services

• Cafe Ohlone The only Ohlone restaurant in the world, operating at UC Berkeley, offering seasonal dining experiences and education sessions that represent Ohlone culture and cuisine. Co-founded by Vincent Medina (Chochenyo Ohlone) and Louis Trevino (Rumsen Ohlone).
• 'ammatka Cafe at Lawrence Hall of Science Family-friendly cafe at Lawrence Hall of Science offering accessible Ohlone cuisine Wednesday through Sunday, 11–3, highlighting seasonal ingredients indigenous to the East Bay with Chochenyo language as a focal point; no admission fee required to visit.
• 'ottoytak at UC Berkeley Hearst Museum Seasonal restaurant located outside the Hearst Museum of Anthropology on UC Berkeley campus, offering occasional meals and private lunches in a fragrant garden of manzanita, artemisia, California rose, and mugwort. Currently temporarily closed.
• Education Sessions Educational sessions for groups of all ages teaching Ohlone culture, history, culinary practices, and language, conducted at 'ottoytak or at external organizations such as libraries, schools, and science centers.
• Consulting Services Organizational consulting services to institutions seeking to learn about and incorporate Ohlone culture and land-based practices, arranged by direct email inquiry.

Quantifiable outcome

• Established as the only Ohlone restaurant in the world since September 2018

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• California Academy of SciencescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Implemented a fundraising campaign on behalf of Cafe Ohlone in 2023 for the Ohlone Land Fund to purchase East Bay land for a culinary and educational center. One of the founding partners of the mak-warép Ohlone Land Conservancy vision.
• UC BerkeleycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosts Cafe Ohlone at the Lawrence Hall of Science and Hearst Museum of Anthropology through the 'ottoy Initiative. The initiative aims to foster understanding of and respect for Ohlone people and culture while repairing UC Berkeley's relationship with the Ohlone community.
• Lawrence Hall of SciencecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHome of the 'ottoy Initiative where 'ammatka Cafe operates. The science center provides a venue for Ohlone cultural education alongside science programming.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Wahpepah's Kitchen: Wahpepah's Kitchen is a Native American-owned restaurant in Oakland led by Crystal Wahpepah, serving indigenous California-adjacent cuisine in the same Bay Area region as Cafe Ohlone — a direct local peer in the indigenous-food space.
• Owamni by The Sioux Chef: Owamni, founded by Sean Sherman (The Sioux Chef), is a Minneapolis restaurant focused on pre-contact indigenous cuisine, comparable to Cafe Ohlone in centering decolonized indigenous foodways as its core identity and value proposition.
• Mitsitam Cafe: Mitsitam Cafe at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian serves indigenous-inspired Native American dishes on a museum campus, mirroring Cafe Ohlone's model of operating a restaurant inside a cultural institution to advance representation and education.
• Tocabe: Tocabe is an Osage-owned American Indian restaurant in Denver focused on Native American cuisine, sharing Cafe Ohlone's model of a tribal/indigenous-owned restaurant that uses food to advance cultural identity and education.
• Pueblo Harvest Cafe: Pueblo Harvest Cafe operates at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, serving Native American cuisine as part of a cultural-preservation mission — closely paralleling Cafe Ohlone's combination of restaurant and indigenous cultural institution.

Broad incumbents

• Indian Pueblo Cultural Center: The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is a broader indigenous cultural institution operating museum, cafe, and event programming, mirroring mak-'amham's expansion from restaurant into cultural programming, education, and land-stewardship activity.
• Cafe Reconcile: Cafe Reconcile is a nonprofit restaurant in New Orleans that uses food service as a vehicle for social mission (workforce training), comparable to Cafe Ohlone's nonprofit structure but with a different social mission (youth employment vs. cultural preservation).

Others

• Heath Ceramics: Heath Ceramics is a Bay Area ceramics maker with deep cultural and creative-community ties that have intersected with Cafe Ohlone (photo credits and collaboration). Comparable as a Bay Area craft/cultural brand with a mission-driven, design-forward identity.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cafe-ohlone

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 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 Cafe Ohlone