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The Mermaid Cafe aims to bring inclusivity by hiring disabled employees

From left to right: Drew Meyer, Leah Meyer, and Karen Meyer are owners of The Mermaid Cafe
Courtesy photo
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The Mermaid Cafe
From left to right: Drew Meyer, Leah Meyer, and Karen Meyer are owners of The Mermaid Cafe

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Leah Meyer, 24, is the owner of The Mermaid Cafe with her parents, Drew and Karen Meyer. Leah has Down syndrome.

Drew Meyer says Leah’s interest in baking started at the age of 3 or 4 years old.

She baked with Karen all the time when she was little, and continues to do that,” he said. “And then, as she grew up, she has always talked about having her own restaurant.”

Leah was inspired by watching celebrity cook Rachael Ray on the Food Network. My goal is to be on the Food Network,” she said.

Leah’s life experience includes actor, gymnast, cheerleader and YouTube chef.

Drew said that they have been planning the idea for The Mermaid Cafe for well over 20 years, including the intention to employ workers with disabilities.

“And about two years ago, we got real serious and said, ‘If we're going to do this for Leah, now's the time to do it,’” he said. “There's so many people that have disabilities that are underemployed here in San Antonio. And so we wanted to just provide a place where they have an opportunity to come and work, and they can make a difference in the community, and they can feel better about themselves. And then, you know, people may come in and learn and see that we're not that different.”

Drew Myer explained the employee application process.

“We want to find out, what would you like to do? Are you interested in maybe learning how to bake? Are you interested in maybe learning how to make a cup of coffee? Do you like cleaning? Do you like organizing?”

Myer hopes the skills Mermaid Cafe employees acquire will make them more hireable in a modern workplace.

“(W)e want to have each of our employees be able to grow and learn valuable skills,” he said. “Maybe that would give them an opportunity to work at other places, and more people would be more open to hiring somebody with a disability.”

Leah’s mother, Karen, a speech pathologist, said they have put in a lot of work to make the kitchen equipment more accessible, like having counters at wheelchair height for the cafe’s workers.

“So, we will have a super automatic espresso machine, which means that it'll be push-button so that you don't have to have the physical strength to make the espresso shot,” she said. “The oven that we will be using in the bakery area, we can pre-program that for certain recipes, so that kind of cuts down on having to look at what the recipe says, ‘OK, oh, I need to put 10 minutes on this, or 12 minutes on this.’ You can go in and hit ‘Chocolate Chip Cookies.’”

The bakery’s goods will be gluten-free to accommodate people with food sensitivities like Leah, who has Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune disorder that makes her sensitive to gluten.

And why “Mermaid Cafe”? Leah said it was going to be the “Angel Cafe."

Leah Meyer chooses paint colors with jenny Maples of JM Design Group
Courtesy photo
/
The Mermaid Cafe
Leah Meyer chooses paint colors with jenny Maples of JM Design Group

“[S]he thought about 'The Angel Cafe,'” said her father Drew, “but that's going to be reserved for heaven. When she was small, and she started talking about the cafe and we always asked her, ‘Well, what are you going to name it?’ And you would always say, ‘Mermaid Cafe.’ And so that name has stuck for years before we even really got serious about this.”

Karen said Leah breaks down all presumptions about people with disabilities and Down syndrome when they meet her.

“They may have these ideas that have already been planted in their head,” she said. “No. She walks in, puts her hand out and meets you. She has conversations every meeting that we're in for the Mermaid Cafe."

Leah said all people with disabilities have abilities.

It doesn't matter if you are normal or not,” she said. “It doesn't matter. Just be who you are. Keep dreaming.”

The Mermaid Cafe is expected to open in March at 14415 Blanco Road, Suite 110, in San Antonio. Follow its progress on Facebook.

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