Central Cafe is a new business that will have its grand opening on Monday, April 4, and will operate out of the City Central at 400 E. Central Ave. in Ponca City. Central Cafe will focus on a plantbased menu with vegan and vegetarian options, locally roasted coffee, fresh pressed juice and more.

Kal Cloonan, the owner of Central Cafe, is a local interdisciplinary contemporary artist that had desired to open a cafe for a few years, but the opportunity hadn’t presented itself. It was with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that Cloonan considered opening a mobile coffee truck. With 15 years experience working in the food and customer service industry, Cloonan eventually spoke with Kat Long with Ponca City Development Authority (PCDA) about setting up a cafe.

“I’ve trained under chefs and I’ve worked in back of house, in front of house, doing everything under the sun,” said Cloonan. “I have a pretty good idea of how things work, and I’m already learning new things since I started this.”

Central Cafe is dietary focused and everything is made from scratch. The beginning menu is plant based and largely vegan, but there will be chicken and hard boiled eggs for salads.

Another focus is to reduce waste. All the packaging is compostable paper and cornbased plastics. Cloonan will also be doing discounts for those that bring their own cup/containers to minimize waste as much as possible.

Central Cafe was one of the entrants into PCDA’s Business Pitch-Off competition, an experience that Cloonan felt gave a better understanding of opening a business.

“It was a really great experience, I think it gave me a better perspective on what I was getting into,” said Cloonan.

Central Cafe has a social media page on Facebook and a website at https://centralcafe-pc.square.site/.

“For me, this is just exactly what I need right now. It is the challenge that I need to keep me busy and keep me interested,” said Cloonan. “I love making all of these things.”