By Andrea Smith
Just after sunrise on a warm July morning, nearly 100 women gathered at kaffé KARMA in Greenville for the first of many community walks led by coffee shop owner Katie Kutler. The diverse group included pairs of friends, solo striders, dogs, moms with strollers, and generations X through Z who trekked a 4.2-mile loop together, ending with a free drink at the cafe.
“I just remember seeing everyone around me and being like, oh my god, this is so needed,” Kutler reflects. “Think about the pandemic…We were forced to be disconnected as a community, and I think we’re still seeing the effects of that and how people crave human connection.”
She saw groups welcome strangers into their conversations and help achieve the goal that “no one walks alone.” She heard new friendships form and old friendships grow.
This idea for a walk club and other wellness events had been brewing for a while between Katie and her husband Max Kutler, who owns Thrive Athletics gym in Wilmington. Since kaffé KARMA opened in January 2023 as a “coffee shop by day, yoga studio by night,” the goal has been to provide locals with a space to socialize around healthier foods, drinks, and activities.
But the couple knew that the business within these four walls — aesthetically pleasing white walls that bounce sunlight across plants, shelves of self-care products, and avocado toast — could only offer so much. Taking their mission outside with a walk club was a step toward something bigger: launching a nonprofit organization with accessible health and wellness programs that, over time, reduce health care spending throughout Delaware.
Setting Intentions
As a fellow in Leadership Delaware’s class of 2024, Katie conversed with statewide industry leaders and realized that the ideas she and her husband had been brainstorming could come to fruition through a nonprofit. That year-long experience and the knowledge gained “really urged us to think bigger and to continue to play big,” she says.
Last year, the Kutlers introduced the Spread Good Karma Foundation (SGKF) with a slew of free events to build buzz around their developing nonprofit. The women-only walk club attracted between 50 and 100 participants on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, and newcomers found solace in an all-levels, all-genders run club. Into the fall and winter, Thrive Athletics started hosting Sweaty Saturdays to keep up the momentum. Other events such as Self Care Book Club meetings and meditation and yoga classes have ensured mental health stays top of mind.
“For right now, we are doing all this for free,” Max says. “[Making] money is not as important when you’re trying to help people, and I think people lose sight of that.”
Donations are accepted at each event, and SGKF is applying for grant funding. In the future, a buy-a-membership, give-a-membership program could subsidize the foundation’s services.
“We charge a premium price for our healthier menu [at kaffé KARMA], and our guest service and things like that,” Katie says, “but having free classes and free health and mental health support was the ultimate goal for us.”
This year, the Kutlers are planning a Spread Good Karma Foundation 5K. They also hope to bring a Delaware-based farmers market to Brandywine Park in Wilmington, where they may start or end group walking and running routes. Additional events will be posted at SpreadGoodKarmaFoundation.org and on social media.
“The way that we see health-care costs lowering is by taking care of yourself and doing it in a way that is holistic,” Max says. “If this is going to work in our state, I think that it has to work on all scales, and it can’t just be for people that can afford it.”
Long term, they anticipate opening a separate wellness space with a meal-prep company that provides free food and other programs to underserved communities. A unique kaffé KARMA concept with nutritious grocery items and a hot bar isn’t off the table either.
Jen Cohan, the former Leadership Delaware CEO and current president of ABC Delaware, describes Katie as a “roll-up-your-sleeves type of person” with the passion to succeed as a businesswoman and nonprofit leader.
“I’m so inspired by the concept she has, both for the business and nonprofit,” Cohan says. “I’m hoping that it could be a catalyst for similar organizations across the state, region, and eventually country. I think she’s onto something fantastic. It’s hard work, but she and her husband — they’re in it to win it.”
Inspiring A Community
For the Kutlers, a healthier state starts at their places of business. Staff at kaffé KARMA receive free memberships to Max’s gym and attend a monthly team training that covers both professional and personal development goals.
“[Katie] talks to us about patience, slowing down, and kind of just taking in the whole point of kaffé KARMA,” says Chloe Photopoulos, a coffee shop employee for two-plus years, who’s now transitioning into a new marketing role with the Spread Good Karma Foundation. “It’s about interacting with people and being the light of someone’s day.”
Customer Donna Thompson says kaffé KARMA feels like the bar in the TV show Cheers, where, as the theme song goes, “everybody knows your name.”
“I’m 58, they’re younger, and they embrace me,” she says. “It’s a family-oriented community.”
Thompson works across the street from the coffee shop and discovered the walk club from a sign near the register — and that wasn’t the first sign telling her to prioritize healthy habits. Recent medical tests had let her know that she was prediabetic and prehypertensive, but after joining the walk and run clubs and attending Sweaty Saturdays, she lost 30 pounds and got healthy test results.
“I just started off on a walk,” she says, “and it became so much more.”