After all the furor raised over Felony Franks, the hot dog stand to be staffed largely by the formerly incarcerated, we’re pleased to see that a similar operation has been running quite smoothly (and under the radar) in Uptown: Cafe Too, reports ABC7. The restaurant (motto: “We serve people on both sides of the register”) is part of the Inspiration Corporation, which provides a culinary training program for ex-offenders: after off-site training on restaurant techniques, the men then spend time working back-of-house to get some real job experience. With this on their post-incarceration resumes, 75 percent of program graduates find new jobs after the training. And some stay on: Cafe Too’s lead server, Tony Reinert, entered the program after completing a burglary sentence. He was hired full-time in 2005, and is going back to school. “Just like having a roof over your head is stabilizing so is having a job,” he told ABC7. “I’ve proven not only to myself but also to the people at Inspiration Cafe Too that I’m not my past.” [ABC7, via Uptown Update]
[Photo: Cafe Too/Official Site]
