Cafe Zata and John

Hi, everyone! This month marks four years that John and Joanna have owned Café Zata on the corner of Bainbridge and 7th Sts. It’s become a neighborhood spot for much of Manchester: a go-to for morning meetings, quick coffee for early a.m. workers, made-to-order lunch for both local businesses and residents, a makeshift office for many work-from-home-ers, and a weekend stopover for runners, walkers, and those just looking to chill with good food and a seasonal latte or two. Lots of regulars have become friends, and up til recently, it wasn’t unusual to stop in and chat with one or both of the owners while picking up food or settling in with a beverage.

This year has been very hard for the business, though, following John’s diagnosis with cancer of the larynx at the end of last year. With a very small (but incredibly dedicated) part-time staff, John and Joanna were able to keep the doors open on an almost-normal schedule all through his treatments this spring. The hope was with the end of treatments, this “new normal” would return to “old normal,” with John returning as the backbone of the kitchen staff: working the busy shifts, keeping supplies stocked with frequent inventory runs, prepping, cleaning, and generally being “the guy” around the café to handle whatever came up.

Unfortunately, Zata is still waiting for a return to any kind of normal. John’s radiation treatments have caused some serious pitfalls on his road back to health, so that now, months out from treatment, he suffers from severe fatigue and trouble swallowing, and is unable to speak above a whisper. Getting sufficient nutrition is a major challenge, and his energy levels are a constant battle. He has been unable to return to the café to work anything like a full shift. Zata’s hours have been reduced and reduced again. Working still with a very small staff, Joanna has been able to keep the business up and running, partly with the help of friends and volunteers, as well as neighbor chefs graciously stepping in from The Underground Kitchen.

While there is optimism that things will get back closer to normal, John’s doctors have not been able to predict a timeline—whether his healing will be a matter of weeks or of months, even years. Meanwhile, Cafe Zata’s future is uncertain. With current staff and operating hours (along with other financial stresses like the dip in business due to ongoing road closures right outside the doorstep), it may in time become a challenge to keep the lights on, much less be enough of a source of income to help John and Joanna keep up with medical bills.

Before it reaches that point, we want to help. What makes community work is its ability to hold each other up. As John and Joanna have been there these past years for the neighborhood, we want to be there for them. This fundraiser aims to directly ease the burden of medical and other necessary expenses so that they can, literally, get back to business. So that there’s enough reserve to hire good people when the time comes, without cutting into their own livelihood. So that John can take all the time he needs to take without risking the precariousness of his health. So that the doors can reopen again seven days a week.

So many have already been so kind in offering financial generosity, time, encouragement. John and Joanna, and the whole Zata family, have never felt more grateful for the friends they’ve made here in Manchester. They hope to be around in the neighborhood for a long while yet!