Sugar's Café prepares to open in Condon

Condon native Clabe Widner moved back home last year with his wife, Hailey, and her best friend, Katie Mae. The three came with a dream-to start their own business and take over the café in Condon that had been shuttered for nearly four years.

Clabe grew up in Condon and is a 2011 graduate of Condon High School. His parents are the Cathcart's, who have owned the café building since 2001.

Clabe says that some of his earliest memories go back to the café, where he first started as a dishwasher at age seven.

"I remember having the dishwashing apron tied around me three times and then getting my food handler's card when I was nine," Clabe says.

The return home is the end of a long arc for Clabe, who moved to Beaverton after graduating high school.

"I lived there for thirteen years," Clabe says, "working in restaurants mostly."

Clabe says that he worked in several restaurants and became the General Manager of a Pizza Hut before he was 21 years old. He later got a job in a warehouse but felt unfulfilled.

"I was missing the food industry," he says and when talking with his wife, Hailey, about starting their own business, the idea of returning to Condon and reopening the café took hold.

Clabe's wife, Hailey, grew up in Vernonia. When talk of moving to Condon turned into a real plan, Hailey's best friend Katie Mae wanted in on the action.

"We've been best friends since middle school," Hailey says of Katie Mae. "We've had this longtime dream of owning our own business together and starting a restaurant."

Clabe and Hailey moved back to Condon in October of 2023 and Katie joined soon after. The three began work on the café in December of last year, putting in late nights to update the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the front of house.

A family member constructed a new bar. Some of the original chairs from the Round-Up were found in storage. The three agonized over paint colors and décor.

But one thing that the crew immediately agreed upon was the name: Sugar's Café.

An inside joke from Hailey and Katie's youth, Sugar's Café will open in the coming weeks. Clabe, Hailey, and Katie Mae say there is no official opening date. "We want to open slowly to get our feet under us," Clabe says. "We won't be doing any official grand opening, or posts online – people will know when the sign outside says so."

The initial plan is to be open six days a week, from 5 AM to 5 PM, Wednesday through Monday. But the trio says they will play it by ear.

"We will see what the community wants, and we'll respond," Hailey says.

With a background in customer service, Clabe says that Hailey will be the face of the business.

The partners have ideas of having baked goods for sale, as Hailey is also an accomplished baker. But to start, they will focus on breakfast foods and a lunch menu – all of which can be ordered all day long.

Clabe will be cooking in the kitchen, Hailey will be in the front of the house, and Katie Mae will help in between.

By opening in winter, which is typically a slow season for restaurants in the area, the three believe they will have time to settle into the new venture before tourists return next spring.

And while the past year has been a whirlwind, Clabe, Hailey, and Katie Mae have already established roots.

Clabe and Hailey's daughter is in kindergarten, and the couple is excited to have a family business that their daughter can grow up in.

Katie Mae is working to move her father to Condon.

"We all grew up in small towns," Hailey says. "We missed the freedom and community spirit, we really wanted to get that back and to see our daughter grow up in that environment."