No Limits Cafe Gets Ready to Open

By Gretchen Van Benthuysen

MIDDLETOWN – In New Jersey, special needs students can remain in the public school system until they turn 21.

“That period after high school is called ‘falling off the cliff,’ ” said Stephanie Cartier of Middletown, whose third child, Katie, has Down syndrome.

Then what?  More education?

“There aren’t a lot of college programs out there for them,”  she said.

Get a job?

“They can’t find meaningful employment,” she explained. “We wanted Katie to be able to work, to have something to do long after we’re gone.”

But the special needs community has an 80 percent unemployment rate, said her husband Mark Cartier, and there are many families in the same boat.

So two-and-a-half years ago they decided to do something about it. A chance viewing of NBC-TV’s “Inspiring America” series featuring the Hugs Cafe in Texas, where all the employees have special needs, caught their attention. By doing something similar here, they could provide training and employment for people with special needs.

So they traveled to Texas to work and be mentored at Hugs. They formed a nonprofit and a limited liability company. They wanted a Red Bank location for the foot traffic, but costs were too high. A real estate friend pointed them to a location for sale in Middletown. It took six months to close the deal. Construction began January 2019 and the certificate of occupancy was signed Dec. 19.

Last Saturday, the Cartiers – a stay-at-home mom and government bond and investment trader dad with no restaurant experience – hosted a bustling open house for No Limits Cafe at 418 Route 35, Middletown.

Mark and Stephanie Cartier are not drawing a salary.

But they did hire Alexandra Sciortino as restaurant manager. She has a degree in the hospitality field from Fairleigh Dickinson University and experience with special needs adults. They also hired chefs Jackie Plant and Kali Garita. All three are paid. The trainees will be paid the minimum wage of $11 per hour.

Previously known as the Rigoletto Trattoria restaurant, the building was gutted and an up-to-date professional kitchen was installed. Work stations include countertops designed to accommodate workers in wheelchairs.

There’s also a dishwashing station and full-sized washer and dryer that Stephanie Cartier said will be used for training purposes as well.

Patrons can watch food orders being prepared on the new gleaming metal appliances from areas of the 48-seat cafe with wood tables and chairs.

The floor is concrete and reclaimed wood from an old barn covers some of the walls that display hand-painted positive words such as “inclusion,” “pride,” “empowered” and “our community.”

For the official opening planned for late February, Stephanie Cartier said soups, salads, sandwiches, bowls (rice, quinoa, vegetables) and desserts will be available. The chefs created recipes that have no more than six steps.

Later, grills, griddles, stoves and ovens ­– including a vintage pizza oven from the previous owner – will be introduced to expand the menu.

No Limits Cafe has been approached by six local eateries interested in hiring trained workers, Mark Cartier said. 

“Start simple and as their skills progress, the menu progresses,” Stephanie Cartier explained, adding each worker will have a six-week period to make sure the job works for them and for the cafe.

“As we go, we will see what we need, who leaves, then accept more applications,” she said, adding that updates will be posted on their website, Facebook and Instagram.

Jake Mark, who has autism, and Hayley Lawrence, who has mitochondrial disease, are both 21 and from Middletown. This is their first real job.

Lawrence, who will train to be a hostess, said: “It makes me happy that I will have a job I can do.”

Mark, who makes pizzas at home, said, “I’d like to try cooking and maybe try serving food to the table.”

Mark Cartier said partnerships with several local restaurants are in the works.

“We already know we have some people who will be working here that have great knife skills,” he said. “And there are restaurants that need someone who can chop things a certain way.

“So, there are different jobs we can carve out and are hopeful we can get other restaurants interested,” he said.

“Those amazing kinds of things have happened in every part of this restaurant,” he said. “Once people see how this can be successful, we hope it will open eyes and change minds.

“For many reasons, someone may or may not hire someone with special needs. We know that it’s new, different or hard to understand until you see somebody else do it,” he said.

“So, now we know we can and so does everybody else,” he said. “Once others see the benefits, it will change the way people think.”

If so, that would make Terry and Nancy Geant and their son T.J., 32, Middletown, happy. Their son has Down syndrome and although his speech is not great, his knife skills cutting meat and chopping ingredients for salads are fine, his father said.  

Through a school program, he got an internship at a supermarket four days a week, collecting shopping carts.

“It worked out wonderfully, then they changed the manager,” his mother said. “Things became difficult, not only with the new manager but with other employees. Things came to a head and he had to quit.”

With the help of volunteers and job coaches, she believes it will be a better experience for everyone.

“It could take him a couple of months to get it right, rather than a couple of hours,” she said. “Hopefully the patrons of the restaurants will understand if it takes five minutes more to get their food than it would at McDonald’s.”

This story originally appeared in the Jan. 9, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.