Chef Chad Houser founded Cafe Momentum to provide stability for struggling kids, and to give them a path out of the detention system.
Courtesy Cafe Momentum
In 2008, Chad Houser was the co-owner of a successful Dallas restaurant and had just been lauded as an “up-and-coming chef” by local press. The conventional career path was right in front of him — until a service opportunity with at-risk youth changed his life’s purpose.
It all started with an ice cream-making class he taught to eight young men at a local juvenile detention center. Following the class, he took the boys to a farmers market ice cream competition. When one of his students won the event, Houser shared in their joy and came away feeling compelled to do even more for them. “That initial encounter led me to [keep volunteering at] the detention facility, teaching cooking classes,” says Houser. “I would use that time to listen and learn from the kids and the staff.” The more he worked with the boys, the more aware Houser became of how limiting their personal circumstances were in comparison to his own upbringing. “I recognized that their lived experience at 15, 16 years old was far different than mine,” recalls Houser. “I was given so many opportunities and resources necessary at that age to succeed. … That wasn’t the case for these kids.”
A clear theme emerged as he got to know the young men: They lacked consistency and stability in their lives. Houser wanted to change that, and the seed of an idea began to grow. It took time to formulate a plan, but his goal was to establish a fine dining restaurant/training academy that could provide troubled teens, ages 15 to 19, with a path out of the juvenile detention system.
His then-business partner, Janice Provost, suggested the name for the concept: Cafe Momentum. To raise funds for the venture, in 2011 Houser began holding pop-up events, supported by guest chefs from the Dallas community. The following year, Houser sold his interest in Parigi, the restaurant he owned with Provost, to devote himself full-time to his passion project.
Eat Drink D-FW
To date, more than 1,200 young men and women have been served by Cafe Momentum’s program.
Jason Bang
By January 2015, he was ready to open the doors to Cafe Momentum. Working at the restaurant, participating youth advance through a 12-month paid program that provides hospitality industry training, from prepping and cooking food to waiting tables and washing dishes. Along the way, the students are tutored in life skills such as financial literacy, conflict management and parenting.
Case workers are on hand 24/7 for the Cafe Momentum youth, and mental health counseling is available. Adjacent to the restaurant, a community space offers a safe haven for kids to hang out. School attendance or pursuit of a GED is also required, so Houser and his team established an on-site learning academy for interns who struggle in a traditional high school setting. The first class graduated in 2019.
To date, more than 1,200 young men and women have been served by the program. The goal is not necessarily to matriculate interns to the restaurant industry, but to empower them to reach their full potential in their career — and life.
Houser’s hard work has not gone unnoticed: In 2018, he was named a CNN Hero. “As an organization, we were all very proud,” says Houser. “It was really special to be recognized on a national stage and raise greater awareness around the lives of justice-involved youth.”
And this past June, Houser achieved another major validation when he was named the James Beard Humanitarian of the Year. Known as the “Oscars of the food world,” James Beard Awards are some of the most prestigious honors an American culinary professional can attain. Houser joins the likes of Jose Andres of World Central Kitchen in receiving the Humanitarian Award, which is presented to an individual who has given selflessly and worked tirelessly to better the lives of others.
What’s it like to become nationally known? “It’s funny you should ask that. … When my wife Hannah and my son, Felix, and I were having dinner last night, she mentioned her cousin in Austin met two different people who knew who I was. I don’t know them. Impostor syndrome is real, but I try not to take myself too seriously. I have a 5-year-old who keeps me in check,” he says, laughing.
Looking to the future
In the Beard Awards’ history, Dallas has often been overlooked; you’d have to go back to the early ’90s to find a Dallas chef receiving any recognition (Dean Fearing, if you’re wondering). And the acclaim the Humanitarian Award has brought to Cafe Momentum and North Texas couldn’t have come at a better time. Currently, the restaurant is about halfway through a $10 million capital campaign to fund construction of a new Dallas location, expected to open in 2026.
Spurred by a generous gift of land from The Meadows Foundation, the move to the Wilson Historic District, east of downtown Dallas, will free Cafe Momentum from lease payments — while providing interns and their families access to arts, education and health resources offered by 30-plus neighboring nonprofit agencies. The new venue will have more event space and additional capacity to serve as a national training hub for others interested in serving disenfranchised youth. Already, several groups have come to Dallas to study the program’s success.
Announcement of the Humanitarian Award also raises awareness and support just as Cafe Momentum rolls out expansion to other cities. Locations in Pittsburgh and Atlanta are now open, and Denver is expected to start construction next year; exploratory plans are in the works in Baltimore and Houston.
Interns at Cafe Momentum learn skills that will prepare them for a career in the food industry — and beyond it. Participants learn to prep and cook food, clean dishes and wait tables, but they’re also taught financial literacy, conflict management and parenting.
Jason Bang
Here at home, Dallas patrons have supported the downtown flagship restaurant from the moment it opened. It offers a seasonal menu of New American food three nights a week, Thursday through Saturday, with stellar service and lots of smiles. A lively pace of catering projects and special events fill the restaurant’s calendar.
“When we first started talking about opening Cafe Momentum in Dallas, people said, ‘What are you going to do when the kids start stabbing each other in the kitchen? They don’t want to work. They just want a check. They can’t cook your food.’ … I hope we have reached a turning point on this trajectory and people will see the truth of the kids and not the stereotype, the false narrative. Time will tell. [But] that’s my hope — that the corner’s been turned and people will just focus on supporting the kids.”