Cafe Outside the Square
Cafe Outside the Square, 34 Whitmore Square, Adelaide | Kaurna Land
There’s a lovely cafe that sits on the side of Whitmore Square. It used to be an old Greek restaurant, the white walls on the inside give it away. Today it’s clearly a cafe, with a front counter full of baked goods and a smell of coffee in the air.
Let’s take a look inside…
As soon as we step in, we’re greeted by the lovely cafe manager Celia who takes us on a tour through to the back room, where six dedicated volunteers are laughing and making veggie pasties for the cafe’s soup kitchen. Behind them the chef is hard at work, along with his son Payton - who is a big member of the Cafe Outside the Square family.
We sit down for coffee and Celia tells us about their beautiful community-minded business model. Cafe Outside the Square is a charity cafe. 100% of profits from everything off the menu go directly to supporting their soup kitchen, which provides hundreds of free meals for the local community in need… with sausage rolls being an all time favourite!
The front is a regular cafe, with a yummy smashed avo brunch plate, the back is a hub of activity to provide for the community.
Smashed avo on sourdough with halloumi and poached eggs.
Four mornings a week, Cafe Outside the Square volunteers gather at the back of the cafe, working to chef’s orders and cooking up nutritious meals. One part of these go to local people experiencing hardship, living in the shelter next door, and the rest are distributed to other local community members in need through various charity partners.
Payton tells us that he has been busy raising awareness at school, by giving a presentation about what the café does and how it works. He even dyed his hair bright green to raise funds for the soup kitchen.
Payton, keen Cafe Outside the Square family member.
“The cafe aims to distribute at least 1000 meals every week!” Celia tells us.
That’s a hell of a lot of meals!
Another side to the cafe’s story is their role in training young people who are typically excluded from the workforce. Young people living with a disability, low self-esteem, or other vulnerabilities… Cafe Outside the Square is there to give everyone an opportunity to gain work experience, build up their confidence and move on to future employment. They do this by caring for the young person, guiding them through their training journey, and giving them the responsibilities that they need to build up skills and confidence.
A lovely young former trainee sits with us and makes me my third coffee of the morning. She used to come in and work front of house 3 days a week, and now just likes to pop in because of the supportive atmosphere and community.
The more time I spend there, the more I can see that Cafe Outside the Square is actually a family outside the square. Working together, looking out for each other and supporting anyone else who is struggling along the way. And do you know what’s great? By spending my Sunday morning there, sipping (probably too much) coffee and eating my way through a tasty brunch, I actually became part of that support network for those few hours.