A new café on Rutgers University’s Douglass Campus aims to teach the community about inclusion and show the potential of adults with intellectual disabilities.
No Limits Café, a nonprofit that hires and trains adults with intellectual disabilities, plans to open a coffee and sandwich shop in October at the former Café 52 in Robert E. Mortensen Hall. The café will operate in partnership with the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services (RCAAS) and serve students at the Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick.
“We have a small space, but we’re hoping for a really big impact,” said Ryan Cartier, a co-manager at No Limits Café.
Ryan, 30, is the son of Stephanie and Mark Cartier, who opened the original No Limits Café in Red Bank in 2020. They were inspired by their youngest child, Katie, who was born with Down Syndrome.
Stephanie has long been an advocate for Katie. She saw supports and opportunities for Katie and others with intellectual disabilities drop off after high school and wanted to help fill the gap, Ryan said.
Today, No Limits Café employs 37 adults with intellectual disabilities, all earning at least minimum wage. The nonprofit’s mission is to “empower adults with intellectual disabilities by providing jobs and job training to help them lead fulfilling lives within our community and to increase awareness of their potential.”
The café serves Build Your Own Grilled Cheese along with a variety of other sandwiches, soups and protein bowls, but it’s also known for the people skills their employees develop through the training program.
“We also really focus on the soft skills needed for employment, like communication in the workplace, punctuality, dealing with issues with your co-workers,” Ryan said. “You can teach anyone the hard skills for a job, but it’s those soft skills where people often struggle, and that we try to focus on and emphasize.”
In 2025, just 23% of people with a disability were employed, compared with 65% of those without a disability, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Katie, now 27, was an early employee at No Limits Cafe, but now works mostly at a Chick-fil-A. “She decided it was too much drama working with family,” Ryan said.
In 2023, the café started operating a food truck named Hazel. About a year ago, RCAAS approached them with the idea to open a location on campus, Ryan said. RCAAS offers support programs that help adults on the autism spectrum attend college, earn a living, and participate in community life.
In the coming weeks, the cafe will finish installing equipment, including an espresso machine and food display, and interviewing potential employees. They plan an Oct. 13 opening and a formal ribbon cutting to follow in November.
Ryan has high aspirations for the Rutgers site. No Limits Cafe has a three-year lease but hopes to expand beyond that.
Beyond providing training and employment for individuals with disabilities, Ryan wants to show college students “what the population of people we work with are truly capable of.”
“One of my personal future goals for the place is for this to become a field site for potentially business students and for special education students and social work students,” Ryan said. Business students could help them run the café and operate it more efficiently, while special education and social work students can help develop plans for employees.
The Cartiers hope the Rutgers site becomes a model that other universities can replicate.
