The Mermaid Cafe 14415 Blanco Road, themermaid.cafeWith the help of her parents, Chef Leah Meyer is opening The Mermaid Cafe, scheduled to start serving up coffee and gluten-free bites in early 2025. Close to the heart of Chef Leah, who has Down Syndrome, the business will also employ people with disabilities, a statistically under-employed population. Credit: Courtesy Photo / The Mermaid Cafe

Leah Meyer’s passion for cooking is apparent on her YouTube channel, Cooking with Leah, where she makes creations such as whoopie pies and frozen hot chocolate.

Now, with support from her parents, the San Antonio woman with Down syndrome is building on that passion by launching a business, The Mermaid Cafe.

The eatery is in the late stages of preparation at 14415 Blanco Road in North San Antonio, near Phil Hardberger Park, according to details Meyer’s family shared online. It’s scheduled for an early-2025 launch.

The Mermaid Cafe promises to be groundbreaking, and not just because of its founder. The restaurant will employ other people with disabilities in its augmented, accessible kitchen, according to its website.

The menu will also set itself apart by focusing on gluten-free cookies and other treats.

The restaurant is still under construction, and the Meyer family is asking the community for donations through its website to make Leah’s dream come true.

In an origin story on the cafe’s website, parents Karen and Drew Meyer said their daughter has spoken for years about her dream of one day opening a restaurant. The name always stayed the same too: The Mermaid Cafe.

With the tagline “Specialty Coffee by Special People,” the cafe’s mission is to employ people with disabilities, who are statistically underemployed. Only 22.5 percent of people with disabilities were employed in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and that represented a record high. 


“One thing we knew for sure is that we wanted it to be a place for people of all abilities to be able to work and make a valuable contribution to society,” the cafe’s website states. “We want to positively change the perception that people have of those that may be different from themselves.”

As the cafe works toward its opening, supporters can follow along on its Instagram account to see Leah and the first batch of employees attend barista training and make other preparations for the launch. 

Karen and Drew Meyer are bringing their own experience to the table to support Leah’s dream. Karen is a speech-language pathologist and Drew is operations manager for a food-truck company.

“We know we have the skillset to make Leah’s dream a reality,” the pair added on The Mermaid Cafe’s website.
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This article appears in Nov 13-26, 2024.

Stephanie Koithan is the Digital Content Editor of the San Antonio Current. In her role, she writes about politics, music, art, culture and food. Send her a tip at skoithan@sacurrent.com.