Family Rise Together Executive Director ChaQuana McEntyre stands outside the Sunshine Cafe, 5719 Grand Ave. The social service organization purchased the diner and will remodel it to serve as a food-service industry small-business incubator. (Photo by Lissa Maki)

A shuttered building that once housed a landmark West Duluth cafe won’t reopen with breakfast specials and counter seating but new owners will use the space for a program to train ambitious food entrepreneurs and deliver meals.

St. Louis County records show the former Sunshine Cafe, 5719 Grand Ave., was purchased in December by the Duluth social service organization Family Rise Together for $230,000. The nonprofit started renovations on the historic building this winter and has launched a fundraising campaign to install a state-of-the-art, commercial-grade kitchen inside the space.

Sunshine Cafe owners Young-a and Steve Clement temporarily closed the business in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The restaurant had been a popular breakfast and lunch space for three decades, famous for its Swedish omelettes. The temporary closure turned permanent when the couple announced the property was for sale in September 2023.

The Sunshine Cafe was a popular West Duluth breakfast and lunch space for three decades. It closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Turn-of-the-Century building will be renamed the Sunshine Innovation Space.

Family Rise Together was established 10 years ago to support individuals from diverse backgrounds including black, indigenous and people of color. Organizational services include help with housing, mental health and substance abuse issues along with supporting workforce integration and entrepreneurship.

Founder and Executive Director ChaQuana McEntyre said food service is a popular industry for people looking for new work or establishing their own business.

Family Rise Together founder and executive director ChaQuana McEntyre.

“A lot of individuals in our community who love to cook, who know very little about business, would love and truly appreciate having an affordable commercial kitchen space that they can rent to start off their businesses,” she said. “Ultimately (they can) make a decision if they want to move forward with a food truck, or a full restaurant or they decide: ‘You know, I just want to cook for my family, this isn’t for me.’”

McEntyre said the busy West Duluth business district provides a convenient and affordable location to establish the new commercial kitchen and food service program.

“The Sunshine Cafe is the perfect location,” she said. “Grand Avenue is slowly growing and in my opinion, over the next 10 years, it’s going to change just as we’ve seen in the Lincoln Park community.”

West Duluth has low and moderate income families that will be able to take advantage of the Sunshine Innovation Space and the work it will produce, McEntyre said. “There’s a lack of food options for people who are working in that area and living in that area,” she said. “So the kitchen will provide a new market for entrepreneurs.”

Those working in the new business incubator can base a take-out restaurant business in the building. They will have access to the latest in high-quality commercial appliances, learn large-scale cooking practices and have a place to experiment with their work. An outdoor smoker, another important cooking tool, will also be housed at the site.

Family Rise Together will establish a 12-week training and food service certification program at the facility. Those who need to complete the program will be eligible to rent space in the building and establish a business. Between 6-10 people are expected to share the building, choosing their own days to cook for catering jobs, retail sales or to-go, DoorDash-style dining. There will be no tables for dine-in service.

Tables, booths and the service counter have been removed from the Sunshine Cafe dining room as renovation work begins in the space. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske).

“The goal is to grow,” said McEntyre. “We want them to grow out of this space. So we’re going to be teaching them about marketing, all of the things that are going to help them grow with their audience.”

Entrepreneurs with popular menus could expand to a food truck or a small brick-and-mortar space.

“Most people who rent our space will bring their own audience — people who love their food already,” she said. “We want them to use this opportunity to increase their fan base, to increase their revenue and their reach.”

A Family Rise Together fundraising campaign is seeking $250,000 to rehabilitate the former Sunshine Cafe building. The interior will be completely redesigned with new electrical and plumbing upgrades, a commercial-grade kitchen space, appliances and supplies. The YWCA has donated kitchen appliances for the project and LISC Duluth, the local office of the national nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation, supplied a loan to purchase the building.

LISC Duluth Executive Director Sumair Sheikh said his organization serves community social service groups with both consulting and financial assistance. Over the years, Family Rise Together has successfully used LISC consulting services as it developed programming and management operations. The building loan helps continue the Family Rise Together mission through LISC financial services. “It really hit both buckets of our programming in a really nice way,” he said.

LISC Duluth executive director Sumair Sheikh.

“LISC really wants to support ecosystems that touch people’s lives in a holistic kind of way,” Sheikh said. “(Family Rise Together) really helps to get people back on their feet after experiences of incarceration and time away from their families — so they are helping to integrate families not only with each other but with the community.”

Sheikh said the new commercial kitchen will provide a place where entrepreneurs can develop a business without taking a big financial risk. “We need spaces to allow people to learn the ways of starting a business and experiment,” he said. “It takes a lot of resources to start a business, a lot of mentorship too.”

The Family Rise Together project will reduce the amount of financial risk to those entering the food service industry or trying to expand within it. “I see it as sort of an incubation space,” Sheikh said.

McEntyre agreed. “We’re going to bring in some new folks and bring in some folks that are already doing great work and hopefully expand some new businesses and bring some new taste buds out,” she said.

The new program will be called Miss Portia’s & Mr. Miles’ Legacy Diner, named after civil rights activist and former Duluth NAACP president Portia Johnson, who died last year, and Duluth’s first black real estate developer and 19th century inventor Alexander Miles. Donations can be made to the program at the Family Rise Together website.