Ananda Luna DownEast Café opens in Orland

ORLAND, Maine (WABI) - Orland has a brand new place for people to get a tasty, healthy treat.

Ananda Luna DownEast Café had it’s official grand opening Saturday morning, and within minutes there was a line out the door of people wanting a taste of the dairy-free, plant-based menu, with items like smoothies, soups, tea, and chili available.

The café was a decades in the making dream for owner Karista Hastings, who came up with it when she first moved to Maine, but set it aside to focus on other work.

With COVID forcing a stop to those, Karista saw an opportunity to provide the community with a new experience.

”I think we are all a little bit wanting to be paying attention to our health a little bit more and, as I said, I’ve been an event planner and that is not something that’s going on right now and I also teach yoga, that was shut down during the pandemic,” said Karista when we caught up with her in between serving customers.

“So I was like, “You know what? People always eat, and I love to help feed people, so I’m gonna just make people good healthy food.””

While Karista is the sole employee for now, she says she hopes to expand if the cafe is a success.

And if you’d like to check out the café for yourself, you can stop by and visit any day except Wednesday starting at 11 AM.

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