Opening Café Namaste is a dream come true for owners Dan and Christine Kellerman. Dan and Christine have always wanted to own a small business. Christine’s parents and grandparents were both self-employed.

Opening Café Namaste is also a full-circle moment for them. Dan and Christine met at Artichoke Alley, a small business in East Greenwich, where Dan was working for Belmont Fruit. “For us as a couple, it brings back memories of when we first met and what we always wanted.”

Opening the café first started as a joke. Christine said, “Kim, our daughter made some delicious cookies for Thanksgiving that year, and Dan said, “We should open up a bakery for her.”

Christine looked at 751 West Shore Rd. in July of 2022, for use as a ceramics studio, but decided it was too small. In November 2022, the space was still available. Dan and Christine both looked at it again with thoughts of a café.

Colleen Collins, owner of Tranquil Touch Mind and Body Spa, is their landlord. As owner of the building, she was very enthusiastic about a café in the space.

“I said Dan, if we don’t do this, somebody else will, and it is a great location. Everyone in this area wanted a café, the location was great, the need and the want was there,” said Christine.

The theme of Café Namaste is calming, relaxing, and an environment where people can hang out.

“I did want it to mirror Moonstone, (Christine’s art studio on Namquid Dr.) but we also wanted to compliment Colleen’s style, mission, and philosophy; wellness, health, mental health, physical health, taking care of yourself. Our vision is to provide a peaceful, relaxing place to just take a break, and enjoy a beverage and a little snack,” she added.

The menu at Café Namaste is always changing, they have their standard, traditional recipes, mostly made with all-natural, from-scratch products. They don’t use packaged mixes; ingredients have low or no preservatives, chemicals or artificial colors.

Prior to a ribbon cutting ceremony in April, Kim Picozzi, passed along the favorite fruitcake recipe of her mother-in-law.

“It was a secret, and we were able to surprise him (Mayor Frank Picozzi) with a gift of the fruitcake at the ribbon-cutting. That was really special,” said Christine. “It’s not just food. We all know food triggers feelings and can bring back memories, mostly good! At certain times of the year you have certain foods that bring back happy memories, or memories of a certain person, like your grandmother, or an aunt, or grandfather, or your mom or dad,” she said.

Dan is up by  2:00 a.m. and gets to the café around 3:00 a.m. He will usually bake for four hours. Before Christine comes in, she goes to Bagel Express in Pawtuxet Village to pick up the bagels for the day.

Following a successful opening, Dan and Christine plan to offer dessert drinks and later operating hours.

Dan aims to keep customers wanting something new. “One of our thoughts was to have chocolate chips every day or banana nut muffins every day but if we have the same thing every day, people will know what we have.” Dan continued “So, we’re constantly changing the menu and changing up the coffees. We have standard coffees that we keep all the time, but we’ll try new coffees.”

Café Namaste, offers cold brew, iced tea, made in-house, espresso, lattes, smoothies, and chai.

The Kellermans also help support and promote other local small businesses by selling some of their products. They sell resin pieces that are made by a local artist, note cards made by one of her students, and candles from the Coventry Candle Company, a small business, run by a mom with assistance from her autistic son.

This is truly a family business for Dan and Christine Kellerman. “It’s just Dan and me for the most part. Our kids come in now and then, we have some family members that help out,” Christine said.

Café Namaste is open Thursday through Tuesday from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.