The Osage Café & Mercado opened on July 19 in its new location at 1035 Osage St. in Denver’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Osage Café & Mercado is a social enterprise that is a program of Denver Housing Authority’s Youth Employment Academy. YEA provides employment and skills training to underserved young adults to help them succeed in three core industry areas: culinary arts, customer service and the creative industries. Through YEA, the Osage Café provides a 40-hour culinary training program and upon completion of the training, eligibility for a paid work internship at the café.

The Osage Café was established in 2013. Its move to the new location entailed adding the mercado. Its previous location, 1099 Osage St. which is also in Lincoln Park, will be used as an incubator and ghost kitchen, states a news release.

Osage Cafe & Mercado is open for breakfast and lunch from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and also offers catering. It offers a variety of affordable, fresh items. In the summer, produce harvested from community garden plots are used in dishes on the menu.

The Mercado, a market that offers healthy and culturally diverse food, including grab-and-go items, is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

To learn more about the Osage Cafe & Mercado, visit osagecafe.org. To learn more about YEA, visit youthemploymentacademy.org.

If you are a local business in Denver and would like to be featured in the monthly Business Matters column, contact Christy Steadman at csteadman@coloradocommunitymedia.com.