- Chef Tyler Wiard of Elway’s shares a smile with Cafe 180 Chef Dirk Holmberg at the sold-out “Chefs 180.”
Cafe 180 opened in 2010 with a goal of eliminating hunger in the neighborhood surrounding its South Broadway location in Englewood.
The lunch-only restaurant has a philosophy modeled after SAME Café on Colfax Avenue in Denver, feeding all people regardless of their ability to pay.Those who CAN pay make a donation for lunch and can also “pay-it-forward” with an added donation. Those who can’t pay are encouraged to volunteer.
Cafe 180 is located on South Broadway (at Floyd) in Englewood.
The folks who run Cafe 180 wanted to increase visits and awareness, so R&R Media began working with the cafe this spring to help:
- Re-energize and expand its digital media outreach.
- Secure media coverage.
- Help organize and execute special Cafe 180 events and initiatives to increase awareness and financial support.
Just a few months into the project Cafe 180 is seeing results from working with R&R Media:
Website: The cafe had a site but needed a new look to reflect its bright, welcoming location. Working with R&R Media, Cafe 180 has a new site on WordPress with more photos and a cleaner look on an easy-to-use platform.
Facebook: The cafe had a good following (about 600 “likes”), but didn’t do regular updates. Since starting a regular schedule that mixes updates from the cafe (photos of volunteers at work, for example) and updates managed by R&R Media (upcoming events), the audience has grown by nearly 20% and interaction (likes, shares, comments) are a daily occurrence, helping spread the word farther about the cafe.
Twitter: The cafe, which had no presence here, now has nearly 240 followers who regularly share Cafe 180′s messages with their audience. Since the start of June alone that means an additional 35,000+ accounts have had a chance to see Cafe 180′s name and updates.
E-mail newsletters: The cafe now has the ability to send monthly HTML updates to its database of about 1,000 addresses.
7News anchor Mitch Jelniker interviewed co-founder Cathy Matthews for her 7EveryDay Hero Award story.
Media: Westword food writer Lori Midson recently profiled cafe Chef Dirk Holmberg in a “Chef and Tell” feature for the roughly 240,000 people in the metro area that see the weekly paper. Cathy Matthews also was nominated for a 7EveryDay Hero Award. That resulted in a story by 7News anchor Mitch Jelniker, which appeared 5 times on newscasts during a week in early May.
Events: R&R Media recently helped execute the inaugural “Chefs 180″ fundraising event, which introduces patrons to the area’s best chefs while raising awareness for Cafe 180. We helped secure Chef Tyler Wiard of Elway’s in Cherry Creek, who did a terrific job serving up a variety of food, and Strange Brewing Co. to pour three of its microbrews. The event, which exceeded ticket projections, helped raise enough money to serve more than 1,000 lunches.
There’s more to do in the weeks and months ahead to increase word of mouth and other charitable avenues. But so far, Cafe 180 and R&R Media are off to a strong start.
Contact R&R Media today to find out how we can help you with media relations, crisis management, social media and other communication needs.
