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Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today, the StarPhoenix talks to Sydney Neu, who opened BabyBean Play Café recently in downtown Saskatoon.
“If your kids are wanting to run around and play, or having a day, then no one’s going to be there judging you, because everyone’s meant to be there for that purpose.”
Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today, the StarPhoenix talks to Sydney Neu, who opened BabyBean Play Café recently in downtown Saskatoon.
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After having her first child a couple years ago, she noticed a lack of hangout spaces for parents with younger children in Saskatoon to unwind and just enjoy time away from home. She offers a café with kid- and parent-friendly food in a non-judgmental environment, where parents can relax and kids can just be kids.
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Q: What is BabyBean Play Café?
A: BabyBean is an all-ages play café. We wanted to provide a space for parents and their littles to hang out where they could eat and drink and still do the normal things that everyone gets to go out and do, but parents can’t always do.
If your kids are wanting to run around and play, or having a day, then no one’s going to be there judging you, because everyone’s meant to be there for that purpose. It’s a place to be with and without littles.
We try to do all-ages and we try to cater to everyone. It’s just a nice place to meet others and hang out and kind of be you. There’s no pressure to sit at a table and keep your kid seated with you. It can just go crazy in there and life is good.
Q: What makes BabyBean stand out?
A: A big part of it is with the food and the drink we offer we are trying to just give you a nice normal sit-down restaurant or café-type feel. It’s a big enough space where you can have your own place, but it’s a small enough space where you do end up connecting and meeting with others, which I find is really very important. It’s like a home away from home.
Q: Why did you open?
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A: Back in April 2022, I gave birth to our daughter six weeks early. She was very small. She was four pounds and it was really hard for a long time to try and find places that we could take her. I realized just talking to other parents there’s nothing really for babies and toddlers in the city. Saskatoon has lots of kid-centered stuff and older kid things, but we were really missing that space for kids that were about three or four and under.
Q: How is the play café set up?
A: It is a big space with tables and chairs. We have a train table. We’re setting up a weekly craft table. We have a reclining centre and then there’s just the general toys and a kind of building table. So we have Lego and tiles that the kids can play with.
We have couches. We have wipes, diapers, change tables. We have a privacy room built off our play area. It’s really just a place where parents can eat and drink and their kids can kind of run wild, but they’re still in a nice gated space so your kid can’t run out the front door and take off.
We try to keep things for ages six and under, is generally what the gist of our stuff is, but we do have older kid items. We keep smaller Lego and colouring books and different puzzles and board games and stuff that older kids would enjoy. We get lots of older siblings in with their little siblings. They play and they seem to have a pretty good time.
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Our first drop-in is free for all households just so they can see what they think of it and get a good idea of the space.
Q: Do you offer special activities at the Play Café?
A: We’ve launched a lot of new stuff this month. We started an Overstimulated Moms’ Club so moms have a place to eat supper and have someone else hang out with their kid while you’re still there with them, but just a bit more hands-off. Our Moms’ Club is every second Thursday evening.
We do a dads’ group every month. We try to give a space for dads to come together and to chat and to make some friends, because my husband has found that very hard, to find dad friends. We do our dads’ group once a month.
And we do kids’ drop-off nights as well, so parents can actually drop their kids off at the space. We do it every second Friday, usually. And then they can go out and do things. We have staff on site that will hang out with the kids and we feed them.
Q: Do you cater to special events?
A: The space does rentals as well. We do birthday parties almost every weekend in the afternoons. We host it up to the age of eight. Parents know their kid best. They’re going to know if the space is going to suit them and work for them. We always recommend giving it a try.
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Q: What’s on your menu?
A: We do breakfast and lunch and we also have a kids’ menu as well. We try to keep it pretty standard. We have a traditional breakfast with pancakes and eggs. We have stuffed French toast and our breakfast sandwich that is our most popular. For lunch we do a chicken bacon club, mac and cheese, we have an apple bacon grilled cheese right now and a taco bowl.
Our kids’ menu has pancakes and French toast, oatmeal, eggs and toast. We have grilled cheese and cheesy macaroni, chicken and fries, a snack tray. And we try to modify where we can. If somebody has a gluten or dairy allergy, we can generally modify for that.
Q: You also offer frozen meals?
A: We realized that is something very beneficial to families, is to have the option to have food delivered to your door. We make sure that there are ingredients in there that are going to be nourishing and give you extra nutrition and vitamins. We worked with some doulas to come up with that menu and did some pretty good research to make that menu.
We offer snacks, meals, breakfasts and soups. We do a whole big array there and we have some gluten-free stuff and some dairy-free and will modify items for people as well. We’ll deliver them on Sundays as long as your order is placed by Friday night. We have a freezer at the café and you can also come and grab what you’d like and take it home with you.
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Q: You sell toys?
A: Every few months we source a big selection of cool toys that we list on our website to order. You can pre-order them and we’ll deliver them to your home or you can pick them up at the café. We’re hoping to launch another set here in February.
Q: What is your background?
A: At 15 I started working at Co-op in Regina and later Saskatoon. When I was in university I studied for a psychology degree. While I was doing that I started working for Access and Equity Services at the U of S, working with students that had disabilities. I worked as a support worker with CLASI with individuals from four or five years old up to 40 years old that needed some extra support.
And then I moved into Boys & Girls Clubs of Saskatoon with before- and after-school programming. I helped out in some summer camps for the YMCA. After graduating I settled into Saskatoon Open Door Society as a crisis counselor and a family support worker.
I’ve kind of done a little bit of everything, but running a coffee shop was new for me. The food side of it I love. The coffee side of it was very new. I think we’ve done a good job figuring that out.
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Q: What do you love most about owning BabyBean?
A: I enjoy seeing parents come in and just have a good time. You get parents to come in that are just having a really bad day. You can just kind of see that stress come off of their shoulders when they come into the café and they’re able to just let their kid play while they have a meal or coffee or maybe they catch up on their work.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
BabyBean Play Café
Owner: Sydney Neu
Address: 113 – 20th Street West
Hours: Saturday and Monday, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Sundays.
Phone: 306-952-3068
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.babybeanyxe.ca
Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090699837640
Instagram: www.instagram.com/babybeanyxe
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