SoulFull Cafe in Richmond
RICHMOND – A new restaurant in Richmond has opened with a unique mission to feed the body and nourish the soul. SoulFull Cafe, located at 196 West Main in Richmond, is a “wellness cafe” and serves more than delicious, nutritious and made-from-scratch meals. Co-owner of the restaurant, Esterlee Molyneux, says it also serves up positive affirmations.
“For example, you might come in and order the ‘I Am Awesome Acai Bowl.’ If we start saying ‘we’re awesome’ that might help with our mental health,” Molyneux exclaims. “We have messaging all around our store: ‘You are worthy. You are loved. You are enough.’ Every week we provide a Wellness Card, it’s a 3×3 card that has one little word that we’re focused on that week.”
The flip side of the card features a positive quote, an affirmation or mental health tip. At the end of the year the restaurant will have distributed 52 different health tips. In addition, the restaurant will host mental wellness workshops or make them available with a catered lunch.
Molyneux recently retired after more than 25 years of working in mental health and is uniquely qualified to build a restaurant around themes of mental wellness. Her business partner, Tracy Pharis, is an insurance agent by trade but has been working on perfecting recipe and menu items for years. Menu items at the restaurant include acai bowls, avocado toast, specialty breads, soups, smoothies, salads and sandwiches. Many options are gluten-free, vegan and/or vegetarian.
“I have always felt strongly about feeding my family healthy options and I am thrilled to share these tried and tested recipes with our community,” Pharis says. “I want people to leave our cafe feeling empowered both physically and mentally.”
“We believe that we do a lot of negative self-talk that brings ourselves down,” Pharis adds. “We want people to walk in our doors and feel like they are awesome.”
“All of them have positive words in them,” Molyneux adds. “You might order an ‘I Am Bold Smoothie’ or a ‘Terrific Turkey Salad’, ‘Luminous Lemon Poppy Seed Bread’ to find ways to uplift ourselves.
“An unintended outcome is when our staff members who, when they bring food out to our amazing customers, will say ‘Mike ordered an I Am Awesome Acai Bowl’ or ‘I Am Terrific Acai Bowl.’ Then our staff members are saying positive things about themselves while the patrons use the terminology as well. It has become a really beautiful concept in a short amount of time.”
The restaurant is holding a grand opening event on July 1st and 2nd, and the two days will be filled with delicious food, mental wellness tips, giveaways, live music and deep discounts on menu items and in the gift shop.
“We’re open from 7 in the morning until 8 at night. We will have live music here on Friday evening, we have door busters, giveaways, balloon formations from other business owners, and are just looking for a place for people to connect and to get deep discounts on food and to try us out. Nourish your soul by feeding your body.”
The building the restaurant occupies is over 100 years old and was once a train station. Years later it was converted into a laundromat which was once owned by Pharis’s great-grandfather. In various different forms the building has been a gathering place. The cafe is located near a new Lee’s Marketplace grocery currently under construction and Molyneux is excited to bring more dining options to residents on the north side of Cache Valley.
The SoulFull Cafe has dine-in seating, outdoor seating, a drive-thru and online ordering options. For more information, visit SoulFullCafeUtah.com, Instagram @SoulFullCafeUtah or call at 435-213-9366.