S.M.A.R.T. Cafe Grand Opening & Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

(Naperville, IL.) - DuPage Children’s Museum (DCM) will officially celebrate the grand opening of its 60-seat S.M.A.R.T. Café with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, January 10 at 10:00 a.m. The S.M.A.R.T. Café will further the Museum’s 25-year mission of early learning in Science, Math, Art, Reading and Technology by serving delicious, healthy food to more than 300,000 annual visitors in a bright, friendly learning environment designed especially for children.

 “The S.M.A.R.T. Café is an extension of our mission to stimulate curiosity, creativity and problem solving through the integration of art, math and science,” said Susan Broad, DCM President and CEO. “But brain development needs good fuel, so we can now offer that to our members and visitors in a fun learning environment.”

Unique to the state of Illinois, DCM’s S.M.A.R.T. Café menu will feature a carefully planned and consumer-tested array of high-quality foods, with choices that are free of nitrates, harmful preservatives and antibiotics and nut-free. Sandwiches will include fresh-baked artisan breads from Labriola Baking Company and the highest quality meats and cheeses from Boar’s Head. The Café will also offer soups, salads, vegetarian and gluten-free entrees, plus healthy snacks, unsweetened fruit drinks and organic milk. Affordable pricing will appeal to the Museum’s young family visitors.

The S.M.A.R.T. theme comes alive in the Café décor, where food becomes an opportunity for young children to learn about and experience Science, Math, Art, Reading and Technology. For example, the transfer of heat when cooking food is science; measuring a recipe is math; sculpting fruits is art; studying recipes is reading preparation; and following the steps food takes from the farm to table is technology. More than a year in research and planning, the Café environment will reinforce its “healthy lifestyles” theme with food packaging, signage and a menu design that allows young children to choose a balanced lunch for themselves by using pictures if they can’t yet read.

Throughout 2013, healthy lifestyles programming for both children and adults will be generated by DCM’s education experts and partnering organizations, using the Museum’s experience in interactive learning and early childhood brain development. 

For more information about DCM or the S.M.A.R.T. Café, please visit www.dupagechildrensmuseum.org.