Hamilton’s new 541 Eatery and Exchange, a not-for-profit restaurant.

Selling buttons to feed the poor

Believers launch affordable restaurant, with a twist

By Craig Macartney and ChristianWeek Senior Correspondent | August 25, 2014

HAMILTON, ON—Buttons have carried advertisements and political messages for more than a century, but at Hamilton’s new 541 Eatery and Exchange, they carry a different message, of kindness and hope. The not-for-profit restaurant, founded by a local group of Christians, offers high quality, affordable, homemade meals with an optional side-order of a button, donated towards someone else’ meal.

“A full breakfast is five dollars,” says Sue Carr, executive director at 541. “But we make it even more affordable by selling buttons. They cost a dollar and if you buy a button, we put it in a jar that someone coming off the street, for whom money isn’t stretching very far, can get exactly the same as anybody else. They can have up to six buttons a day, which is enough for two full meals and a coffee.”

The vision for the eatery started five years ago with a group of Christians who wanted to offer affordable meals on Barton street, an area which used to be prosperous, but is now known for racy bars and prostitution.

“We are open from seven to seven, Monday to Saturday. We can seat 60 and we are often full. We serve homemade soups, chili, pulled pork and roast beef sandwiches, with vegetarian and vegan options, as well. We also bake scones, cookies, muffins, pies, and have homemade milkshakes, lemonade and iced tea.”

For a dollar, you can buy a button to help pay for someone else's breakfast.

Carr says the most expensive items are their full breakfasts, homemade, to order, for $5. With only six paid staff, 541 relies heavily on a team of volunteers as diverse as their clientele–ranging from pastors to unemployed locals and from university graduates to young teenagers.

“I love Hamilton and I love the concept, so I wanted to use my talents to help people in need,” says Craig Nugent, who has been volunteering at 541 since it opened, on June 20. “My favourite part is the relationships you get to build with people who come. Today I had the chance to have dinner with an 83-year-old man. You could tell that he doesn’t have many opportunities for conversation, but we got to talk about all kinds of things and laughed together.”

As they get more established, Carr hopes to build on that “exchange” side of the vision by launching an after school mentoring program for primary kids, holding movie nights and running coffee houses.

They are also hoping to open a drop-in centre for the sex trade workers who often stop in for meals.

Through the buttons, Carr says people can exchange “Hope for hopelessness. It’s lovely, the Kingdom is really here when you look out.

“If you want to get children’s story-ish, the buttons are just like us. They are all different shapes, sizes and colours. Some of them are beautiful and some of them are ugly, but they’re all worth the same.”