Peter Schorsch
Café con Tampa, a weekly speaking series featuring prominent voices that affect the Tampa community, is moving its Friday breakfast meetings to Portico Café located at 1001 N. Florida Ave.
The next meeting, and the first at the new location, will be July 21, where Patrick Manteiga, editor and publisher of La Gaceta, will be the featured speaker.
Café con Tampa has been meeting at Willa’s since March. However, that restaurant has decided to begin serving breakfast on Fridays, which means there won’t be space for the continued group meetings.
“We wish them well and hope that we were part of making that opportunity happen,” Café con Tampa President PJ Summerville wrote in a notice to attendees. “We are also proud that we brought hundreds of community leaders to the emerging Hyde Park North neighborhood of West Tampa, which has become one of the region’s most exciting areas.”
The Portico is a downtown coffee shop. Hyde Park United Methodist Church runs the café as a social enterprise, where it employs formerly homeless people and pays them a living wage.
“We are proud to support their mission of contributing to the community,” Summerville wrote. “The Portico is a beautiful and historic mid-century modern building, designed by the late James Jennewein, a renowned architect of that era and a Tampa resident.”
The meetings will be held at the building’s former sanctuary.
The facility has 33 free parking spaces. Limited free street parking is also available and there are numerous metered parking spaces.
Café con Tampa attendance will remain $12 per person, which includes breakfast. Food options will be similar to what was served at other venues, including the organization’s flagship host, Oxford Exchange. The attendance fee is paid directly to the venue. Café con Tampa also accepts donations.
Following Manteiga, former House candidate and a young Republican leader, Jake Hoffman, will headline the event on July 28. Café con Tampa leaders said they plan to continue bringing “a diverse range of speakers,” many of whom are suggested by attendees.
