Since founding the Civitas Living service agency in San Diego in 2020, Michael Cross said one of the biggest hurdles he faces is getting employers to take a chance on hiring his vocational ed clients, who are adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
But once employers do take the leap, Cross said, they don’t look back. He has stacks of letters from company owners praising these employees’ work ethic and describing the change in their workplace experience as “life-changing.”
Now, Cross is part of a four-member team with a dream project they hope will further lower the barriers for workers with special needs. If it’s successful, they plan to replicate it in other cities.
This fall, they will open Serafino, an all-day coffeehouse, Mexican-Italian café/market and wine bar in Mission Hills. It will join many other restaurants around the county that hire workers with disabilities. But Cross said Serafino will be different in that it will be a luxury, elevated space where every worker must meet the same high expectations.
“It should be as natural as any other employment situation,” he said. “We’re not trying to hit a quota. We’re just trying to employ the best person for the job. And we’re trying to make sure that if someone does have a label or needs help outside of work, they’re not overlooked. It’s about giving people a chance.”
All four members of the Serafino founding team have deep roots in special education and hospitality.
Cross has worked for over a decade in the field of supportive living and health care services, education and hospitality. Rebeca Cross, his wife and Serafino co-founder, is a longtime high school special education teacher in San Diego.
Serving as Serafino’s chief operating officer is Michael di Carlo. He is the executive director of Civitas Living, and before that, spent eight years in management at the We Olive & Wine Bar in La Jolla. He and David Cross have been close friends since grade school in their native Massachusetts.
Their fourth team member, who will serve as project manager and general manager at Serafino, is Amanda Sarich, who has more than a decade of leadership in wine-focused businesses, including serving as corporate wine director at We Olive, as well as Bernardus Winery and Loews Coronado Bay Resort. Before entering the wine business, Sarich studied special education in college and trained in American Sign Language.
Di Carlo said Civitas won’t be a partner or official service provider to Serafino, but it will offer job coaching, as needed, to any Civitas clients who get hired. Civitas now provides a wide range of support services to more than 100 clients, and di Carlo said fewer than 10 of them right now would have the skills required for a high-pressure business like Serafino. He said some Civitas clients might be best suited for part-time jobs focused on a specific skill set they excel in. (The team has not finalized plans for the number of job openings or what those positions would pay at Serafino.)
That’s one reason Serafino will have a coffee program.
Cross said coffee shop customers expect quick and precise service. But even if these customers like a shop’s hiring philosophy, they won’t return if they have a long wait or their order is wrong. But Cross said Civitas clients often excel in these types of jobs.
“Coffee is a repeatable process where you’re working on small improvements. Our folks will tell you how long a brew goes by portions of a second,” Cross said. “That obsession over the little things is something that a lot of the folks we work with naturally focus on.”
Serafino — which is Cross’s mom’s maiden name — will open on the ground floor of a four-story residential building at the southwest corner of Washington and Albatross streets in Mission Hills.
Sarich said the team spent many months scouting locations around the city and finally settled on Mission Hills because it’s a tight-knit community that supports local businesses. She said the all-day concept will also be key to weaving Serafino into the fabric of the neighborhood.
“The philosophy is very approachable, community-driven, warm, welcoming and family-driven entirely, and it will offer curated quiet luxury at the same time,” Sarich said.
Rebeca Cross said she hopes Serafino will become known for its warm and friendly service. At the school where she teaches, her special-ed students run a cart that goes classroom to classroom each morning, selling coffee to teachers. Even teachers who don’t like coffee buy a cup, she said, because they so enjoy the interaction.
“I think that’s something we want to have everyone experience,” she said. “You’re going to come and have good coffee, good food and maybe enjoy a glass of wine, but it’s also the person who’s going to know you by name, know where you like to sit, and they might bring your favorite drink.”
