Kid-Friendly Café to Open in Ditmas Park

A café that caters to coffee-lovers and offers a family-friendly atmosphere is set to open in the neighborhood. 

Residents Kari Browne and Lori Kranczer will open Lark at 1007 Church Avenue in a few months. The café will be designed to separate into two areas; one will allow kids to roam the space and play with other children without the getting into trouble, with the other serving as more adult clientele. 

The play area will also function as event space where people can have small parties, such as naming ceremonies, birthday parties and lunch meetings. The business partners are also working on allowing for programming in the space, such as sing-a-longs, art and movement classes as well as book club meetings. 

The pair are still developing a menu, but they noted that it is likely to include pastries, hot sandwiches, salads and soups. Browne said that the café will also fill the void for a local ice-cream shop. 

"We'll have Blue Marble ice cream year round," Browne said. "We're happy to have made a great connection with the lovely ladies who started Blue Marble and have grown it into a great business."

The idea to develop the business came when both women noticed a void in Ditmas Park for parents who wanted to remain active and social in the community without sacrificing time with their children. 

"I wanted to create something because there was a need," Kranczer, mother of two, attorney and fundraiser for a nonprofit said. "Just because you're a parent doesn't mean you can't go out and get a really goed cup of coffee." 

Kranczer took to the neighborhood listserv Cortelyou Moms with her idea for a kid-friendly space, and found that she wasn't alone in her thinking. Browne, fellow mother of two and former journalist for the BBC, had posted on the Flatbush Family Network a similar idea. The pair met to discuss the idea, and right away realized they could work on their vision together. 

While the two still have much to iron out, they have already set out to spread the word as often and innovatively as possible. In addition to the cafe's pending website, Kranczer and Browne created a blog that details further developments. The pair is also marketing a Lark tote bag. If brought in to the opening day, tote-carriers will be rewarded with a free cup of coffee.