 MARCH 12 • 2020 | 11
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
Get involved, go to friendshipcircle.org/foreverfriendship

W

est Bloomfield is home to a 
fine dining experience that 
is transforming the lives 
of adults with special needs. Opened 
in 2016, Soul Café is dedicated to 
empowering adults through on-the-
job training in this state-of-the-art 
kosher restaurant. 
“
The inspiration for Soul Café began 
between 2011 and 2013 when we 
started hearing from our Friendship 
Circle families who had been with 
us since we began in 1994,”
 says 
Friendship Circle Co-Founder Bassie 
Shemtov. “
Some of our first buddies 
were now adults and were at home 
without any real purposeful things to 
do.”
Once again, Shemtov was inspired 
to create a space for these amazing 
souls to shine and connect with the 
community. The Friendship Circle 
team began looking for a space to 
create vocational training when they 
heard about cafés in other parts of 
the country that were being managed 
daily by individuals with special needs.
“
Many adults with special needs 
are not able to get jobs,”
 Shemtov 
says. “
But they want to give back and 
work. This idea has inspired not only 
us, but so many other companies are 
now seeing the amazing shift in the 
dynamic of their organizations by 
bringing in these incredible people to 
work with them.”
General Manager Shalom Shomer 
runs the café. It also includes Epic 
Kosher Catering/Milk & Honey. 
Supervision is by the Council of 
Orthodox Rabbis. Currently, the 
restaurant offers hands-on training 
to adults with special needs in areas 
of food prep, cooking, hosting and 
serving, and other skills. Chef Frank 
Turner heads up the Soul Café with 
more than 30 years of experience in 

culinary arts and teaching. The café 
offers a full kosher menu featuring 
gourmet soups, salads, sandwiches 
pizzas and pastas. 
“
This model is so inclusive,”
 
Shemtov says. “
Our staff with special 
needs work alongside our training 
staff to strengthen their skillsets and 
get them ready to work with custom-
ers.”
Soul Café has 25 full- and part-
time employees; seven of whom 
are being trained and five who have 
graduated from the training program. 
Unique to Soul Café, two of its former 
team-members graduated the pro-
gram and are now employed at other 
restaurants in the area. 
Soul Café is located at the 
Friendship Circle’
s Farber Center 
and was dedicated by Alene Landau, 
Graham Landau and Larry Jackier, 
trustees of the Louis and Edith 
Blumberg Foundation. The Farber 
Center is home to the Dresner 
Foundation Soul Studio as well as 
the Soul Café. Both provide a loving 
and inclusive environment for artistic 
self-expression, vocational training 
and employment opportunities. 
Soul Cafe is also a part of the vision 
that was made possible by the Farber 
Family. 
“
In the year before he passed away, 
Bill Farber spent a lot of time in the 
café. In fact, his favorite dish was blin-
tzes, and now we call them ‘
Bill-intzes’
 
in his honor,”
 says Levi Shemtov, 
co-founder of Friendship Circle. 
“
I once approached Bill and I saw 
him really having nachas while look-
ing at the full crowd in the café. He 
asked me if I knew why people kept 
coming back here to eat. Bill said, ‘
The 
food is good. But, it’
s not because of 
the food. It’
s because eating here fills 
their Jewish heart.’
”
 

Soul Café 
Feeds the Soul, 
Empowers 
Adults with 
Special Needs

