Union Square Donuts Cofounder Plans a Cafe and ‘Outdoor Adventure Clubhouse’ in Malden

A cofounder of the popular Union Square Donuts has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new venture. Heather Schmidt plans to open a “cafe and outdoor adventure clubhouse,” Landsmith, at an as-yet undisclosed address in Malden, using it as a means to “fuel the body and spirit for adventure” and provide a space connecting people to the outdoors.

The cafe will seat 20 and serve coffee and a variety of breakfast and lunch options, as well as grab-and-go snacks.

In addition to serving food and drinks, Schmidt plans to run educational classes and outdoor programs through Landsmith, including mountain biking, trail running, and bikepacking workshops and weekly group runs and rides.

Schmidt has already partnered with architects and builders with a goal of opening Landsmith in the fall of 2019, but in the Kickstarter campaign, she notes that the timeline might change depending on how construction and permitting go.

“I have done my due diligence with projections for startup costs, but unexpected expenses pop up all the time, and I want to make sure our startup doesn’t stall due to money,” she writes.

The Landsmith campaign aims to fundraise $20,000 to cover any additional costs that surface during buildout, and it will cover some of the equipment needed to get the cafe up and running, including an espresso machine. At press time, the project was approaching $5,000 with a little over three weeks to go.

Update, May 20, 2019: Landsmith — which exceeded its Kickstarter goal with a final total of $21,814 — has a location: the J Malden Center, a mixed-use development that will open right across from the Malden Center T stop in late fall 2019 at 190 Pleasant St. Landsmith — and a second location for Lynn’s Soul City Yoga — are the first two businesses to sign on to the development.

• Landsmith Cafe [Kickstarter]
• Landsmith Cafe [Official Site]