More than a cafe – Karma Cafe to support Riverbank House

LACONIA — After months of preparation and renovation, Karma Cafe, located at 72 Church Street, is finally open for business. The breakfast and lunch spot, open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., is the latest addition to a growing rehabilitation and recovery campus just outside of the city's downtown. 

Since the doors opened a little over a week ago, the restaurant has been filled with many eager and supportive customers, according to owner, Randy Bartlett.

“The community has been supportive of the restaurant and we’ve already had many great reviews posted by customers about their experience here,” said Bartlett. He went on to say that he was impressed by the turnout considering he had not done much to promote the restaurant's opening.

That response is exciting for Bartlett, who opened the restaurant as a means to support residents who are staying at the Riverbank Houses, the long-term drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that opened in Laconia in 2012.

The eight Riverbank Houses in the community are also owned by Bartlett, and have been renovated to improve the lives of men who struggle with substance misuse addiction. The program puts residents through an intensive 28-day detox, then follows-up the short-term treatment with long-term rehabilitation. Unlike many treatment facilities that only keep residents for a month, the Riverbank House program keeps residents together for a year or more. During this time, residents gain new skills, are integrated into a sober campus community and adopt a healthy lifestyle through peer support.

Presently, there are more than 50 residents staying at the Riverbank House. Many are on scholarship or pay on a sliding scale, according to Bartlett.

“Unfortunately, insurance companies do not cover long-term treatment, even though it has been proven to be far more effective than short-term treatment,” said Bartlett. “So, to make it possible for people to receive the help they need, we provide many scholarships, and Karma Cafe will start to pay for some of them.”

The vision behind Karma Cafe stemmed out of necessity, as it was seen as a way to bring in revenue to support residents at the Riverbank House and provide a career path for residents to apprentice under. Within the restuarant there are various handcrafted paintings for sale that have been imported from around the world. Each of the paintings in the art gallery connected to the cafe, is available for purchase during the restaurant's operational hours.

Handmade wooden tables are featured throughout the restaurant, as part of the Vantz Fine Rustic Furniture business. The business was formed by residents of the Riverbank House, and all slab wood tables, rustic beds, and custom designs are made by residents of the Riverbank House community. All wooden furniture purchases help residents pay for their treatment.

“The Riverbank House program allows people to gain a skill that can help them build a life for himself,” said Everett Henderson, general manager of Karma Cafe. “Some people are carpenters, electricians, woodworkers, or cooks, so the program identities their talents and gives them opportunities.”

Although Karma Cafe does not employ any of the residents from the Riverbank House, a few residents are already training to be a line cook at the facility, so that they have skills they can use once they leave. Henderson is excited to train more people in the restaurant business, as he believes this could open up doors for the residents' futures.

The training of residents in how to be a line cook is just one form of teaching that occurs within the Church Street building, as physical fitness classes are offered just down the hallway from the restaurant. Within the gym or yoga studio, local residents can pair their meal with extercise without having to step outside the front door. All resources within the Church Street location aim to benefit the health and wellness of the community and the residents who are living on the Riverbank House campus.

The Pumped Neighborhood Gym is open daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Yoga classes at Nibbuti Yoga are $10 per class, with the first class free for newcomers. The current yoga schedule can be found online at www.nibbutiyoga.com.