Tricklebee Cafe

MISSION: Tricklebee Café is a pay-what-you-can community cafe that offers healthy meals, food-service training, and spiritual nourishment.

VISION: Tricklebee Cafe will be a place for people in the Sherman Park area of Milwaukee to gather and enjoy delicious, nutritious, local, creatively-prepared food and drink. Being both a cafe and a chapel, Tricklebee Cafe allows for continual feasting and sacred encounters with the divine and neighbors. All items on the menu will be pay-what-you-will, which allows neighbors who cannot afford to pay much to pay little or to volunteer, and neighbors who can afford to pay more to do just that.

PHILOSOPHY: Tricklebee Cafe will rely on the seasonal harvests of local farmers, beekeepers, and gardeners to constitute its menu. We recognize the importance of offering real food to all, especially in areas like ours where mostly corner store "food" is available or affordable. We understand that God’s kin(g)dom is revealed when we give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty and welcome to the stranger (Matthew 25: 35). In an age of post-church sentiments, we--who still consider ourselves church--hear: “The trick’ll be finding enough funding,” etc. We know, however, that the real trick’ll be freeing ourselves up to follow where God’s Spirit is already at work: in people’s hearts, around the table, and where love is genuine.

Tricklebee Cafe is a member of the One World Everybody Eats (OWEE) Network, so we adhere to the following core values:

Pay-what-you-can pricing--Each customer sets their own price for their meal. (We may have suggested prices.)
Patrons choose own portion size--This helps eliminate food waste, curb overeating and supports our customers in adhering to their personal budget.
Healthy, seasonal foods--A commitment to providing local and organic where possible; sustainably grown and harvested.
Patrons can volunteer in exchange for a meal--This provides a “hand up, not a hand out” opportunity. Properly trained volunteers can lead to future employment in the food service industry.
Volunteers are used to the greatest extent possible--This is an important key to building community and sustainability. Volunteers can just be working for meals or because they want to support our efforts to curb hunger in our community.
Paid staff earn a living wage.
Community Table--Have a larger table where individuals and small groups can sit with others and make a larger group that can cross social, economic and other societal boundaries.