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A church again

Woodbury Cafe owners selling building

By Rachel Foor 9 min read

WOODBURY -- The church, constructed in the 1880s, had been empty for seven years before Woodbury natives Kristi and Daniel Oberman came along and turned it into a vibrant restaurant that captured the heart of their community. Soon, though, the building that became a cafe will return to its roots of being a church.

High school sweethearts now married 12 years, the Obermans said they always dreamed of opening their own restaurant. The old church building was right down the road from their home and with a little care, they decided it would be a perfect fit for their plans.

It took almost a year to renovate the old building.

The couple gutted the flooded basement, replaced broken pipes, installed a new electrical system and put in new insulation, too.

All the while, Kristi made sure to preserve aspects of the building's past as a church, including the stained glass windows, several pews to be used as seating and a mural on the back wall that read "Not my will, but Thine be done."

Once the Woodbury Cafe opened its doors in 2013, the quaint little coffee shop they had envisioned quickly turned into a full blown restaurant. They kept adding food items to the menu to accommodate customers and even expanded the cafe's Friday and Saturday hours.

With the support of the community, the duo entered and won soup cook-offs in downtown Bedford and began catering weddings, showers, barn sales and other community events with the help of Frederick's Meat Market in Roaring Spring.

And they hired employees.

Two of Lisa Rice Imler's children worked at the cafe. Her son, Colby, began as a dishwasher when he was 16 and gradually took on cooking duties. Waitressing at the cafe was her daughter, Raegan's first job.

"They were very patient with her and helped her become more confident, as she tends to be on the quieter side," said Imler, who lives in New Enterprise with her husband. "The Obermans were both wonderful role models to my kids and treated them like family."

Pretty soon Kristi was working

16 hour days at the cafe while Daniel worked 60 hour weeks as a foreman with Blair Roofing in Hollidaysburg. Daniel would then help cook on Saturdays to give Kristi a break. Usually, if the restaurant was open, though, Kristi was there.

The long hours took a toll.

"It was not bad in the beginning because it was just 8 to 3 every day," Kristi said. "We still had weekends and evenings. But now on Fridays, I'm here for 16 hours. I come in at 7 and we're here until 9 or 10 at night cleaning up."

Kristi, on her feet all day, started having foot and back problems.

"I'm like, 'I'm too young for this,'" Kristi said. "I need to quit before I get worse. It's exhausting."

The Obermans made the difficult decision to list the cafe for sale in

January 2020.

Then the pandemic hit.

"We thought it would only be a couple of weeks," Kristi said.

But the weeks turned into months and their business started drying up.

"It was really stressful," Kristi said. "In the beginning we did lose a lot of business. It was hard to know what to order, how much stuff to order. It was really hard to plan for during the initial shutdown."

In the midst of the chaos, Daniel was laid off. It ended up being for only three weeks, although the couple didn't know it at the time.

With dwindling options, they were forced to close during the week, opening only on the weekends for takeout. Each day they would prepare a set number of meals with two sides and had people order ahead. Then, from about noon to 1 p.m., they would stand in the cafe's parking lot handing out meals to customers in their cars. Eventually, they were handing out between 100 and 150 meals every Sunday.

They were also able to drop off food for small, private parties held during lockdown.

Their business was steady once restrictions began to lift, Kristi said. She knew a lot of people were struggling but their loyal customers were able to keep them going.

"We were lucky," Kristi said.

However, the pandemic only reinforced the couple's decision to sell the cafe as they were working just three days a week and got to spend more time at home together. When they were able to go back to the cafe full time, they knew it wouldn't be sustainable.

The Obermans didn't easily make the decision to sell.

"I feel so bad," Kristi said. "I feel like we're letting people down but we're just at the point where I physically can't do it myself anymore."

"I'd just like to thank the people in the community for supporting us," she added.

This summer, the couple found a buyer and the church turned cafe will turn back into a church, albeit with a cafe feel.

Grace Communion International pastors Brad and Marlene Reed of Woodbury intend to use the building as a gathering place for their local congregation.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Grace Communion International has 30,000 members in about 550 churches spread across 70 countries.

In May, the local congregation began renting the cafe's dining room every Sunday. After eight weeks, they decided they wanted to buy the location, contents and all. According to Kristi, the church wanted to keep the feel of the cafe and for it to be a place where "people can come and hang out."

"I love what Dan and Kristi Oberman built in the Cafe. They had such a good vision for hospitality and congeniality," Marlene Reed said.

The congregation, currently located in Stoystown, wasn't looking for a traditional church building.

"We weren't sure where we were going to land," Brad Reed said. "Originally, we were simply renting the Woodbury Cafe space on Sundays while we were discussing how we wanted to move forward."

"We want what the cafe has to offer, the commercial kitchen and the space to gather, share and grow together," Marlene said.

According to Kristi, the congregation plans to serve some food, although probably not on as large a scale as the cafe does now.

"Yes, it might be a different group of people enjoying the space in a different way but there's love at the core of it just the same," Kristi said.

Meanwhile, the Obermans are hoping to have a food trailer up and running by next year. They plan on having a similar, but smaller, menu as the cafe, including their bestsellers -- burgers and cheesesteaks -- made with locally sourced meat. They will also serve up their award-winning soup.

The trailer will allow them to go to local events and do catering, without the everyday stress of running a brick-and-mortar restaurant. The couple aims to go to places like Triple M Treasures, a barn sale in Hopewell that is run by the Oberman's friends, Johnna and Jason Ritchey.

When Johnna and her husband opened their business, they reached out to Kristi about providing baked goods and drinks. Johnna Ritchey said the Oberman's response was to go all in and provide food as well.

"Their eagerness to come on board to do food at our barn sales was honestly a huge confidence boost for us because they have a strong following and we knew they'd help us draw a crowd," she said.

The barn sale takes place four weekends a year and the Obermans are the only food vendor.

"They put a lot of thought and effort into their menu for the barn sales and provide seasonal food and specialty drinks for each sale," Johnna said. "We are blessed that even though their physical restaurant is closing they are still choosing to provide our customers with the best food around."

When not running the trailer, Kristi will be selling baked goods out of the Oberman's home.

Kristi also hopes to find a teaching job now that her schedule won't be so hectic. She graduated college with a teaching degree during a time when many teachers were being furloughed and jobs were scarce. With certifications in elementary, special ed K-12, middle school math and social studies, and high school business, she said she feels like if she doesn't use them soon, then she's never going to.

"I went to school for like six years to get them all," Kristi said. "I have always envisioned opening this cafe and having a manager and I wouldn't have to be here, but it was a lot more work than I ever thought it would be."

If she does get a teaching job then she would be free to work in the truck during the summer, she said.

Leaving the cafe will be bittersweet for the couple though.

When it opened, their 8-year-old son was only

6 months old, and his now 5-year-old sister was still a few years away. Now, the kids regularly sit down and eat dinner with customers.

"I grew up here and now my kids are growing up here," Kristi said of Woodbury. "It's just such a tight-knit place. We have so many regulars and local people and they're just kind of like family to us now."

Leaving the cafe behind is "very emotional to me," she said.

The kids even have a playroom in the upstairs of the cafe with toys, a television and couch, she said. However, they love spending time with the cafe waitstaff, whom they have grown really close to.

"They're some of your best friends, aren't they?" Kristi said to her daughter.

The local community is also sorry to see the cafe go.

"I know both of my kids are sad to see the cafe closing but look forward to helping out in the future with their food truck at some of the local barns in the area," Imler said.

The Woodbury Cafe will be closing its doors Saturday, Aug. 28.

Altoona Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.

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