Business notebook: Faithfully Fed aims for more than just food

The menus are written in chalk. Acoustic guitar plays on the radio. One wall has directions for the do-it-yourself pour-over coffee station.

Tina Graham's cafe feels at first like, well, a cafe.

But while plenty of cafes have soups-du-jour, Faithfully Fed has something more -- a mission.

The effervescent owner started Faithfully Fed in 2015 at William Street and Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau but moved to the City Centre behind Applebee's and re-opened in August 2016.

"It's kind of a funny story. ... It's really never been just another restaurant," she said, steeping a cup of tea in Faithfully Fed's conference room. "It's always been about the healing."

Tina Graham discusses her business Tuesday in the kitchen of Faithfully Fed at the City Centre in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

She said she began thinking seriously about food while nursing a sick family member. The experience forced her to reconsider how and what she -- and we as a society -- eat.

As an oncologist, healing already was her life's work, but she said she came to realize food played a vastly more important role in healing than she'd thought.

Food -- healthy, sustainable, unprocessed food -- became her passion.

"Food is medicine," she said. "Processed food is making us fat and making us sick."

She said there were doubts early from people who told her Cape Girardeau wouldn't be interested in a place that offered organic fare, vegetarian and vegan options or that emphasized locally sourced food.

But she trusted her gut and said the community's response has been better than she'd hoped.

"We've established clientele, and we've got a proven concept," she said, grinning. "There is a shift happening, and it's coming through Southeast Missouri."

Between the medical professionals in town, students from nearby Southeast Missouri State University and people who are sick of hitting a drive-through on their lunch break, Graham said Cape Girardeau could hardly be a better location for Faithfully Fed.

"We have a great little community here," she said. "It captured my heart. And what I'm finding out about is that it's part of the community's heart as well."

Now she wants to grow that community.

She's in the process of building the restaurant into a co-op, where local farmers can have a place to sell their goods outside the time constraints of farmers' markets and where people can work volunteer hours for discounts on bulk health foods.

She also is in the process of offering locally sourced health products such as teas, oils, soaps and more.

Her restaurant hosts health specialists as part of the Faithfully Fed speakers series.

It's not all bison burgers and fresh-fermented probiotics at her restaurant.

"The other part of eating right is community," she said. "There's power when you can sit down and eat with someone."

So, no, they don't have a drive-through, and they won't, either.

"I don't have the fancy marketing or packaging," she said. "But this is real grassroots type of stuff. It's much bigger than me. This is God's gig, not mine. I'm just trying to be obedient and get out of his way. We can all share some love over food."

Business licenses

Dockside Creations LLC, dba Lion Tamer Grooming Co., filed for a change in location. The men's grooming products wholesaler now will be at 605 Broadway.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627