Breaking Bread Cafe will close its doors Aug. 25

Breaking Bread Cafe has been a communal hub since 2015. Photo by David Pierini

Appetite for Change will close its restaurant, Breaking Bread Cafe, but will continue serving made-from-scratch meals from a food truck.

Opened at 1210 West Broadway Ave. N in 2015, Breaking Bread provided a community gathering space where folks met over coffee and enjoyed healthy soul food meals at what is one of the only sit-down restaurants in North Minneapolis.

Breaking Bread will close its doors on Aug. 25 with farewell celebrations planned beginning Aug. 21. 

A spokesperson for Appetite for Change said the organization was not given the option to renew the lease with building owner, Kenya McKnight-Ahad, who has plans to expand her ZaRah Wellness Center.

“We take our role in the Northside neighborhood seriously, and it’s very bittersweet to announce the closing,” Tasha Powell, co-founder and president of Appetite For Change, said in a statement made public today. “At the same time, we are excited to announce our new Breaking Bread food truck to continue to serve cafe favorites. We will increase our focus on catering operations, so people can support our mission while enjoying the delicious food we are known for. We will continue our garden sites, youth and family-based programming, Station 81, and West Broadway Farmers Market.”

Appetite for Change, which also has a catering business, may re-open a restaurant at some point. The non-profit organization received $1.5 million this past legislative season to support a permanent home to house all of its operations, including classrooms, offices and a restaurant. A timeline for a larger operation is still to be determined.  

“Breaking Bread Cafe has been a critical part of AFC’s role in the neighborhood, but our work has never been about just a physical brick-and-mortar cafe, but about building a movement to celebrate the beautiful North Minneapolis community and turn our vision where access to wholesome food is no longer controlled by zip code and financial means into a reality,” Powell said. “As a native Northsider, this has deep meaning for me.”

The non-profit We Nurish donated the food truck to AFC.