Bake Me Happy plans to open a cafe at the Upper Arlington Community Center next spring

Construction of the Bob Crane Community Center in Upper Arlington is still underway. The building will have standard recreation center amenities such as exercise equipment and a pool, but the project will also include a café.

The entrepreneurs behind Bake Me Happy, a local gluten-free bakery, are opening a cafe serving coffee, smoothies and takeout food supplied by local businesses. The entire menu will not be 100% gluten-free, but treats from Bake Me Happy will also be sold.

The Upper Arlington City Council officially approved a three-year contract with Bake Me Happy on Monday night.

Construction workers walk through the site Wednesday that will soon be home to the Core Cafe at the Bob Crane Community Center in Upper Arlington.

The city and business can have a symbiotic relationship: Potential customers can come from people at the community center, and a cafe can help attract people, City Manager Steve Shawney said.

This is part of making the community center as multi-functional as possible.

“It shouldn’t just be a multi-user building; we want as many people as possible to come into the building,” Shoini said.

The rendering on the right shows the Core Cafe, which will be located on the ground floor of the community center in an open access area.

Why Bake Me Happy is opening a cafe in Upper Arlington

Incorporating a café into the community center was part of the building’s design. The name of the center was chosen deliberately; The city wants it to be more than just a place to exercise and swim, Schoeney said.

The city had several requests for proposals to which no responses were received. Shoiney said some businesses initially approached the city but were wary of imagining a small space within a larger structure.

Bake Me Happy was the most qualified company the city talked to when trying to figure out who might be a good cafe operator, Shoiney said. The company already has experience in launching concepts in small areas, for example, in the Northern Market and in I sold it at OSU football games for a while..

Leta Pugh (right) and Wendy Miller Pugh are co-founders of Bake Me Happy.

“I’m used to working in tighter spaces—Bake Me Happy used to have a concession stand in the Horseshoe and we made quite a profit from that space—you just have to know how to set it up. the right way,” said co-owner Leta Pugh.

No food will be prepared in a small space of about 600 square feet. Pugh said her connections to local businesses that offer takeout will make it easier to set up a business.

“It will be an uptick, but not a huge one,” Pugh said.

What the concept will look like

The cafe will be built behind a counter in the community center. Visitors can mingle in the seating area with floor-to-ceiling windows.

The rendering shows the space Bake Me Happy is operating at the Bob Crane Community Center in Upper Arlington, which will be called Core Cafe.

Shoiney said the city buys most of the heavy equipment, such as refrigerators, while Bake Me Happy is responsible for countertop appliances, such as the espresso machine.

As an incentive, the city will rent free in 2025. In 2026, rent will be 10% of cafe sales. This rate will continue in 2027, but 20% will be added if sales exceed $600,000 per year.

A day or monthly pass will be required to access most of the building’s facilities, but the café area is open to the public.

When the facility is completed next spring, the café’s hours will be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Pugh said at a council meeting earlier this month.

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This article originally appeared in The Columbus Dispatch: A local business is opening a new cafe in Upper Arlington.