After years of crisis, one Minneapolis restaurant reimagined its business model to prioritize access, equity, and community — and is finding unexpected success.
“If this all hadn’t happened — given me purpose, inspiration, and a shift in finances — I probably would have closed my restaurant this year,” says Dylan Alverson. He’s the proprietor of Modern Times Cafe, a beloved 15-year-old neighborhood establishment in South Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Modern Times has been impacted by “more than a lifetime’s worth of crisis,” according to Alverson, who’s worked in the hospitality industry for over 30 years. This includes — among others — the nearby police killing of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, the global pandemic that shuttered restaurants, and the economic struggles that have further shrunk hospitality businesses’ already small margins. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, 14 of Alverson’s employees bought homes. Since then, none have done so. On January 7, ICE agents shot and killed Renee Good. “It sent shockwaves through everyone in this neighborhood,” he says.
Modern Times Cafe is located just three blocks from where Good was killed, and six from where George Floyd was killed. Alverson, who was on the scene shortly after Good’s death, says a former Modern Times employee, current Modern Times customers, and some of his neighbor friends were among those who witnessed her killing amid a surge of ICE activity and counterprotests.
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