Movable Feast: Rooted in the community with diversified offerings

INDIANAPOLIS — It's a café. It's an events venue. It's a market.

In operation for over 25 years, Movable Feast on the northeast side of Indianapolis is many things, all in one delicious package.

"In these days — especially leading into COVID — you need to be diversified," Movable Feast owner and partner Peter Courtney said.

The independent café and market offers a lot of warmth, both literally and figuratively.

Its menu is filled with homemade soups and hot sandwiches. Sandwiches like the turkey pesto & provolone, or the classic Philly steak & cheese.

"Our chicken salad is the bomb," Courtney said. "It's a dill chicken salad. We sell pounds of that and people go crazy."

Salads, daily specials, beer and wine, dips. Movable Feast is great for grabbing food on the go, sitting down with a group of people, or snagging a quick snack for a party later.

"Food is a very strong connection with people," Courtney said. "We've done baptisms, the first communions... now those people are bringing their kids in for lunch. So it's just the connectivity of people."

It's the same two-person operation they've been using since Movable Feast's start in 1997 at a location on East 71st Street. Courtney and Kathleen Tracy, his fellow owner, moved their operations to the East 65th Street location a few years back.

Courtney says the business is committed to the neighborhood and its goals.

"Right now we're working on the Nickel Plate Trail, which is just gonna be like 50 yards from here," Courtney said. "We raise money for that."

Movable Feast's loyalty to the community paired with its adaptability, means it has stayed a staple of the neighborhood through thick and thin. WRTV first profiled the business back in 2020 during the pandemic, when, without even realizing it, Movable Feast's owners put themselves way ahead of the curve with its minimal-contact pickup model.

"We survived thanks to Kathleen's online ordering... so people could do curbside," Courtney said. "And that saved us. It was rough. It was rough for everybody. But we pulled through and we're survivors."

To survive and thrive, local businesses need support. That's why Courtney says making the choice of a smaller market like his, could be the best choice in the long run.

"Invest in your community. You know that the money stays in your community," Courtney said. "We were once among all these chain restaurants up on 71st Street. They all left; we did the opposite. We doubled down, we helped revitalize the area, planting trees, making economic development vital again."

Movable Feast is located at 5143 E. 65th St. You can also shop online. The store hours are:

• Tuesday and Wednesday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Thursday and Friday 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.