The After 26 Cafe occupies a charming, early 20th Century train depot in Cadillac. It’s a non-profit that employs people with developmental disabilities.
The restaurant serves up dishes like a cherry grove salad and a chicken-ranch BLT in order to give jobs to people like Kerry Serafano.
"I do the placemats, I wash out the tables, I re-seat people sometimes,” Kerry says. “And I do a real good job at it."
Kerry is 31. She lives with her mother and says this is the best job she’s had.
“I love it here,” she says. “I’ve got good friends here, good people, and I like the food here.”
The cafe is called After 26 because at that age the state no longer offers educational services to a person with disabilities. It was inspired by a similar business in Chesaning, Michigan.
The restaurant’s 21 project workers earn what’s called a “deviated wage.” That’s a rate less than minimum wage based on their abilities.
But not everyone who advocates for people with disabilities likes the deviated wage. Elmer Cerano, director of the Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, is one of them.
“My concern is that maybe if a person is working a job and working below productivity levels and therefore paid below the minimum wage, maybe it’s the wrong damn job,” Cerano says.
But Cathy Baker says finding the perfect job is challenging for these workers. She manages After 26.
As she snaps lids on plastic cups of jam, she explains that she had asked a worker to fill and cap them. But she found that he could only do the first half of the task.
“So therefore, rather than frustrate him after 10 tries, he just put the jam in, which is not frustrating,” she says. “And then I’ll lid. So then he doesn’t get frustrated and he’s done something he’s never done before and feels good about himself when he’s done.”
Project workers require direct supervisors like Baker who and this is why the law allows employers to test workers and base their hourly pay on their job performance.
But critics of deviated wages say the system is open for abuse. President Obama signed a law last year that calls for limiting sub-minimum wages. And last month, New Hampshire lawmakers outlawed the deviated wage.
If that happened in Michigan, it would mean fewer workers with disabilities at After 26, says board member Dave Gaunt.
“If we were in this strictly as a for-profit business, we probably wouldn’t hire any project workers to be honest with you, because they are far more expensive,” Gaunt says.
He says that ideally, a worker will eventually find a job outside the restaurant for a normal wage. And others can move up to minimum or higher here. But he says it’s not realistic to expect that of all project workers.
Elmer Cerano acknowledges some workers have limitations, but he says more should be done to pay them better.
"I start with the assumption that everybody is employable if we can figure out how to make that happen," he says.
After 26 organizers hope to help other communities start restaurants like theirs.
Meanwhile, opponents would like to see Michigan follow suit with New Hampshire and outlaw deviated wages.