Photo: Shari Small/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A new restaurant opened in Jamaica Plain thanks to some government funding.
Jadu is a coffee and breakfast restaurant that had a soft opening back in December, but first time business owner Maya Mukhopadhaya had the idea for the shop years ago.
“I had the idea for Jadu back in 2022,” Maya said. “I would walk by this very location and say to myself ‘this is the spot I want.’”
Since opening, she said that they’ve started to amass a dedicated audience and already plan to expand the menu, adding wine to the beverage menu to go along with coffee.
“There’s a lot of similarities between people who are interested in the two,” Maya said. “For us it felt like a very natural extension.”
Maya expressed how excited she has been to create this community around Jadu.
“Yes, we love coffee, we love wine, we love food, but it's about those things being used to gather people and cultivate connection and community,” she said.
Read More: WBZ NewsRadio's Emma Friedman Visits Celebrity Magnet Burger Spot
She also talked about how grateful she was for the funding Jadu received through Boston’s SPACE grant, which allowed her the ability to open the restaurant and shape it to her liking without worrying about monetary restrictions.
“It allowed us to make design and esthetic decisions that otherwise we may not have been able to,” Maya said.
SPACE stands for Supporting Pandemic Affected Community Enterprises, and these grants helped to fund 90 businesses in Boston using a total of $10 million provided federally by the American Rescue Plan Act.
WBZ NewsRadio's Shari Small (@ShariSmallNews) reports
