Meet the owner
Riley Loosemoore
At sixteen, Riley Loosemoore was in adolescent treatment getting his first taste of recovery. By twenty-one, he had four sons, a meth habit, and a life spinning out of control. Then, the day after Christmas, a strike force kicked in his door, arresting him on suspicion of a murder he didn't commit. Cleared but terrified of testifying, Riley ran. He stayed running for four years and eight months, surviving on the streets of Ogden as "Jimmy Ray Johnson," a self-styled "creative collector" nobody could find.
Today there's no finding him necessary. He's at Once Upon a Time Cafe every day, the cafe he owns inside the Weber County Library. It's the same library where he once spent his days with nowhere else to go.
After 30 years as a cook, Riley finally opened the cafe he'd always dreamed of, now serving the Main Library and Pleasant Valley Branch in Ogden, Utah. Everything is made from scratch, from the turkey, bacon, avocado, and ranch stacked on sourdough to the potato salad and macaroni salad: home-style food that's high-quality and affordable.
Riley built this place for the people walking through the library doors, the same doors he once walked through with nowhere else to go. He wants every guest to feel accepted the moment they sit down and to get the wow factor with every single plate.