Photo: The Front Porch Executive Director Melissa Todd, right, and Second Helpings Cafe owner Lauren Wilson Young pose for a photo inside Second Helpings Café on June 11, 2026 © USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional information.
Whether you’re leaving a counseling appointment, heading to a presentation or just want to relax in a rocking chair on a porch with a hot cup of coffee overlooking a sprawling green lawn, The Front Porch is dedicated to creating a welcoming environment.
The Front Porch, a nonprofit, in East Memphis on Walnut Grove Road shows why gathering spots are so valuable during a time when people are “craving connection,” co-founder Lauren Young said.
Baristas remember customers’ names. Volunteers greet people at the door with a friendly smile. And people talk to each in comfy rocking chairs on the expansive porch that spans the length of the building.
“I think what’s really important to us is getting hospitality back and building a space that’s for Memphis,” executive director Melissa Todd said. “We already have so many regulars, and we love the space.”
“Hidden gem” might be an apt descriptor of the hangout spot and meeting space, but co-owners Todd and Young would prefer “hidden” be left in the past.
Under one roof with glass windows from floor to ceiling, visitors can find an onsite coffee shop/café, event space, meeting room and outdoor grove.
The site also houses permanent office space for a Baptist Centers for Good Grief location, counseling services, the American Cancer Society and tutoring services for all grade levels.
Pumpkin Patch Inspires Community-Minded Concept
The concept of Front Porch began with Young, owner of the in-house Second Helpings Café and Sweet Lala’s Bakery. With deep roots in the city, (her grandfather is the late Charles Kemmons Wilson, who started the Holiday Inn hotel chain), Young wants to highlight “all Memphis has to offer” and bring Memphians together.
Young opened the beloved Sweet Lala’s Bakery in 2014, originally to give youth in juvenile detention a second-chance at employment and work experience. The bakery can now be found at the Regalia center on Poplar Avenue, while its goods are sold at numerous local stores, including Second Helpings Café at Front Porch.
Young took her passion for baking and giving back, and combined it with the desire to connect people, much like her church, Second Baptist’s annual pumpkin patch, always a warm social occasion, she said.
“I was thinking, one, we’re all moving too fast,” she said. “It’s really hard to accept support, but you also need support a lot. And then two, why can’t we have the pumpkin patch hospitality year-round? I knew how to do food, and I saw the connection that food and emotions have.”
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So combining food and feelings can bring people together, let people know they are not alone, Young says, which aligns with the mental health aspect of Front Porch’s focus.
“I say I eat my feelings all the time. And I’ve met a lot of people who like to eat their feelings, too. And so it’s really nice to be able to also talk about mental health in a way that’s not stigmatizing,” Young said. “It’s like, hey, let’s all figure it out together.”
Church Donates Land, but Facility Not Church-Run
While adjacent Second Baptist Church donated the five acres Front Porch sits on, it is not religiously affiliated. The space is for Memphians of all beliefs, ages and races, and as Young said, is not for proselytizing.
The heartbeat of The Front Porch is Second Helpings Café, the main gathering spot at the facility, serving coffee, pastries and savory classics like chicken salad and pimento cheese sandwiches as well as breakfast biscuits.
Previous fans of Young’s Sweet Lala’s will feel right at home, as the pastry selections are comprised of familiar favorites like fluffy biscuits, blueberry scones, chocolate cookies, lemon cookies, glazed cinnamon rolls and more. The assorted pastries can, of course, be paired with coffee and espresso offerings like classic lattes and the popular summer-inspired Blueberry Matcha.
Young and Todd are also committed to supporting other local small businesses.
All prepackaged products and gift items offered in the café are made locally, including items from Thistle and Bee, which gives employment opportunities to women who’ve suffered trauma and Vinculo, a Memphis coffee distributer.
“The concept was let’s really tell the stories of all the social enterprises,” Young said. “We have a lot of great people doing awesome things in Memphis. People don’t necessarily know about these products, but they will hopefully experience them, taste them on our shelves, and then go volunteer, maybe make a [donation] and learn about some of these organizations.”
Wind Phone Booth Helps Process Grief
Mental health support permeates throughout The Front Porch’s core business model.
To complement grief counseling on-site, visitors can find the only wind phone in West Tennessee. Conceived in 2010 by a Japanese garden designer as a way to process the loss of his cousin, the simple concept of a phone booth with a disconnected rotary phone has spread across the world. Phone booth users can enact calling someone they’ve lost and speak to them.
“You can call your loved one and tell them anything you want to say that you haven’t been able to say,” Todd explained. “And the idea is the wind carries your message up to them. It’s a way for people to grieve going through losing a loved one, and sometimes talking through it makes it amazing.”
“We trained our team to really look for grief here because when you come to Sweet Lala’s, you may just be there in a hurry and you want to go fast,” Young said. “Or you might be just leaving an appointment or going into an appointment, [any] irritability might just be really grief-hidden. And so the team was really asked to not overstep the boundaries. We all like to talk, but try to find that balance.”
Filling a Niche City Needs
Young said The Front Porch could be the spot the city was missing and an extra place to network.
“We should be talking about all the best stuff in Memphis. We’ve got the people. We’ve got the organizations. They just don’t know [about] each other all the time,” Young said. “The world’s so much richer. I mean, I think that is what I found at the bakery all the time, but now even more so here.
“People are so interesting.”
Front Porch is currently looking for more sponsors and volunteers to support the campus.
To plan an event or reserve a meeting space, visit thefrontporchmemphis.org/spaces/event-space for details.
The Front Porch is located at 4688 Walnut Grove Road.
Jacob Wilt is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal covering Dining, Retail and Real Estate in the Memphis area. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: How Front Porch in East Memphis connects, supports over coffee and a rocking chair
Reporting by Jacob Wilt, Memphis Commercial Appeal / Memphis Commercial Appeal
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