Detroit's Capuchin Soup Kitchen transforming into restaurant-style dining

A Detroit soup kitchen that has served the community for nearly a century is getting a major makeover.

Capuchin Soup Kitchen is transforming its 8,000-square-foot Meldrum Community Center into Refettorio Detroit. In just a few months, the third Refettorio location in the country will feel more like a restaurant.

"We started with sandwiches being handed out at the door of the monastery to the soup kitchen, which was mostly soup, to meals, and now this is table service," said Gary Wegner, executive director of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.

Nonprofit Food For Soul says the model also puts food recovery at the center of the mission.

"Our goal is to connect with that existing network and growing network of service providers to rescue as much food that we find that's out there on a daily, weekly, monthly basis to then transform," said Jill Conklin, co-director of Food For Soul.  

The $2.4 million renovation is funded through donations rather than government funding. The new space includes a larger kitchen, new HVAC systems and a restaurant-style dining room.

"This is a restaurant, and guests are going to ... open their eyes to something that they haven't seen in a long time, and that's what we're really excited about," said Michael Ferlito, CEO of Ferlito Group.

But for Wegner, the biggest change isn't just what the room looks like, it's how people are treated when they walk through the door.

"What does that say? That we respect them, that we love them, that that's how we want to treat them, and so, I really believe that the table service raises that level of dignity," said Wegner.

Capuchin expects to serve about 120 people each day for lunch.

Ferlito Group says the dining room is expected to be ready at the end of January, with service beginning in early February.