Our Daily Bread at Cafe 230 opens in downtown Albany

ALBANY — Diners venturing to downtown Albany in search of lunch this week were met with a somewhat new choice as two of the area’s most popular eateries have merged into one.

After closing for the day on Saturday, the folks at Our Daily Bread immediately began the process of moving to the restaurant’s new location and, on Monday, “Our Daily Bread at Cafe 230” was serving customers.

“It happened quickly,” said Mendy Warren, who, along with her husband Jason, has owned Our Daily Bread, which had been located on Washington Street, since August 2011.

Warren said the pair were debating whether to open the new location in the middle of January since they had to be out of town the first part of the month, but decided the quicker move was best.

“We just said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Warren said. “We could have opened up the first part of January, but we didn’t want our first day to be a day when we were out of town. That would not be fair. We have a great staff and great clients, so the transition ended up being very smooth.”

Warren said the quick transition really started about three weeks ago when Cafe 230 owner B.J. Fletcher contacted the couple about the possibility of moving to the Broad Avenue location.

Having been on the lookout for a larger space to accommodate the recent growth of Our Daily Bread, Warren said she and her husband jumped at the opportunity to make the move.

“We were just starting to outgrow that building (at 106 N. Washington St.),” said Warren. “We needed a larger area to do private functions. This location more than doubles our square footage and seating capacity.”

Additionally the move also allows the Warrens to not only expand the Our Daily Bread menu, but also keep the Cafe 230 menu in place.

“We’ve taken our menu and the Cafe 230 menu and merged them,” Warren said. “We’re actually calling this location ‘Our Daily Bread at Cafe 230.’”

The move also means the restaurant can expand its overall operations, particular in the areas of catering and events. Warren said with the added capacity they will be able to rent out all or a portion of the space for events such as wedding receptions, parties and other gatherings.

“We really wanted a location that was available for private functions,” said Warren. “We can do on-site or off-site caterings, everything from hors d’oeuvres to lamb chops.”

It was that desire to expand that originally had the Warrens looking for a new space. Warren said the couple was looking at moving to a different downtown location, but changed their plans when Cafe 230 became available.

“We were on track to move Our Daily Bread to Front Street,” Warren explained. “With this opportunity opening up to take Cafe 230, we didn’t think we could pass up taking this spot.”

Despite moving in a slightly different direction, Warren said she and her husband are firm believers in downtown Albany and hope to further expand within the area.

“We still have plans to help whatever’s going on with Front Street in any way we can assist with that,” said Warren. “We support downtowns. Downtowns are the heart of your city. Our downtown is such a beautiful place. The potential of our downtown is limitless.”

Part of that limitless potential includes the Warrens finding another use for the former Our Daily Bread space on Washington Street. Although they don’t have anything firm in mind, they are maintaining that lease and Warren feels certain they will be able to do something there in the future.

“We are confident in the revitalization of downtown and we are still keeping that location,” Warren said. “We will open something in that location.”

That focus on downtown and the continued growth of what she feels is a good business were part of what prompted Fletcher, an Albany city commissioner, to reach out to the Warrens about moving into Cafe 230.

Recently, Fletcher has been devoting more and more time to opening her new venture, Open Roads, a restaurant that will open in the former Texas Star restaurant on Dawson Road near Slappey Boulevard, and felt like it was the right move at the right time.

“It wasn’t that (Cafe 230) wasn’t doing well,” said Fletcher. “I didn’t leave the first time because I wasn’t doing well. I’m just looking forward to 2015 and the opening of Open Roads. It ended up being a good marriage. It’s a win-win.”

Fletcher said she feels the new combined restaurant will be good for both the Warrens and for downtown as it merges two restaurants with similar items and doing similar business into one restaurant with the potential of being really successful.

“We had two businesses doing fairly decent and now there will be one doing great business,” said Fletcher. “It really is just a great marriage. Jason and Mendy love downtown and they have a strong vision.”

Now that the move is complete, Warren said she and her husband are focusing on the menu and catering expansion, but the pair will maintain the same philosophies that they had when they started Our Daily Bread.

“We want to continue to offer good, wholesome, clean food,” said Warren. “That won’t change. And we’re still getting everything that we can locally.”

Warren also feels that if Monday’s reception from the staff and customers is any indication, the future is bright for Our Daily Bread at Cafe 230.

“Everybody’s excited about the move,” Warren said. “Customers have been very pleased. We’ve had a great response from the community.”

For now the restaurant will continue its normal hours of 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and Friday nights from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Nothing is set in stone, but Warren said the restaurant could expand its evening hours in the near future.