Capuchin Soup Kitchen's $2.4 million Refettorio Detroit opens in 2027 with full-service meals

The Capuchin Soup Kitchen's Meldrum Community Center on Detroit's east side is converting from cafeteria-style service to full-service, restaurant-style dining through a $2.4 million renovation called Refettorio Detroit.

Guests, many experiencing homelessness, mental illness or addiction, will be seated and served a starter course, an entrée, dessert and coffee. Volunteers will clear rectangular tables between courses. The project is a partnership with Food for Soul, a global nonprofit founded by Italian chef Massimo Bottura and his wife Lara Gilmore to reduce food waste and social isolation. Detroit will become the 13th location worldwide to host a Refettorio, joining sites including Harlem and San Francisco.

"None of us are just walking stomachs and neither are our guests," said Gary Wegner, executive director of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, during a media tour of the construction site. "They have hearts and they have brains and hopefully some of the art, the culture, will also feed those spirits as well."

Jill Conklin, co-director of Food for Soul, said the project aims to make hospitality accessible to everyone. "Hospitality is something that we know in the restaurant industry and we have a set of expectation of beauty and luxury," Conklin said. "What I think Refettorio Detroit reminds us of is that it's for everyone."

The 8,000-square-foot dining room, designed by Michigan-based Constantine George Pappas AIA Architecture/Planning and built by the Ferlito Group, broke ground in spring 2026. Construction is scheduled to finish in January 2027, with a tentative community open house planned for early February. The space will include a lounge area, dining space, finishing kitchen and production kitchen. Dietary restrictions will be accommodated.

Chef Alison Costello, director of food service and hospitality for Refettorio Detroit, will oversee the menu. Food will be plated rather than served on trays. Sample dishes include Moroccan chicken with preserved lemons and stuffed portobello mushroom caps. Costello said the kitchen will also invite guest chefs during its first year.

"Fine food is for everyone," Costello said during a tour on Wednesday, Sept. 23.

The dining room will feature work by local artists, including tilemakers, muralists, potters and woodworkers. The rectangular tables are designed to encourage conversation among guests.

The Capuchin Soup Kitchen, a Catholic nonprofit founded in 1929, operates meal sites and a grocery store-style service center for food and clothing. The Capuchin Soup Kitchen said demand has increased in recent years because families are struggling with high food costs. According to a 2024 analysis from Feeding America, more than 1.5 million people in Michigan are food insecure.

During construction, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen is serving meals, showers and support services from a climate-controlled tent in the parking lot at 1264 Meldrum Street. For the holidays, the Solanus Casey Center has allowed Capuchin to use its dining room, Wegner said.

Refettorio Detroit is expected to serve an estimated 200 to 250 meals a day once it opens. Readers can find more details at www.refettoriodetroit.org.