It’s one of the most popular restaurants in the east side of Minneapolis’s Powderhorn neighborhood. Modern Times has been a staple for many across the Twin Cities for its savory-tasting menu, hot sauces, and support of the local arts scene.
However, these aren’t the only things that have made Modern Times such a popular restaurant. Their merchandise encapsulates a lot of what Modern Times is about both as a restaurant and community partner. Elpis Enterprises has been a longtime partner in bringing these designs to life and to Modern Times for customers to purchase.
“There’s a lot of screen shops and printers in the cities,” said Modern Times owner, Dylan Alverson. “But anyone that’s working on providing the level of skills and doing that through a non-profit platform, we are just prone to support them.”
The partnership between Modern Times and Elpis has been ongoing for nearly a decade. Alverson was introduced to Elpis by Screen Printing Program Manager Dustin McChesney, who had been working out of the Modern Times basement with a former employee printing their own shirts.
“Another employee from here had a studio in the basement and they were working together. They did do our first run of t-shirts out of the basement. He told us what they were about and we started working with them,” recalled Alverson.
What got Alverson and many others at Modern Times behind working with Elpis versus a printing shop that works with large-scale orders, was the mission behind Elpis. Helping youth and young adults at risk of homelessness, gain the skills they need to find a career.
“I believe in that process and giving any kids, but especially at-risk kids skills that they can support themselves with is extremely important. The money we help generate in helping to do that is good. Even as our needs continue to grow I’m a lot more willing to work with a small company that has those motivations and will continue to,” said Alverson.
Elpis has continued to meet the demands of every order Modern Times has needed with their merchandise, especially when they needed it most during the COVID-19 pandemic. The restaurant found a way to keep its doors open, renting out its secondary dining room as an art studio. Those artist who were presenting their work in the studio were able to have some of their designs turned into t-shirts, which Elpis printed out.
“We ran different limited designs from different artists through the pandemic which we were shipping across the country and sold. It was a really unique merchandising experience, especially for a restaurant relying on a bunch of different varieties of artists-designed shirts. It gave customers and staff stuff to look forward to,” Alverson said.
And those opportunities for artists haven’t ended as local artists are still getting opportunities through Modern Times and Elpis’s help, to continue seeing their designs come to life on clothing, including some of Alverson’s own family members.
“My 11-year-old daughter just designed our most recent t-shirt, even though it took me longer than she would have liked. But it just helps tie in the community values of the restaurant and with Elpis and to our restaurant,” he said.
The partnerships between Elpis and Modern Times have continued to gain traction in 2024 as the popular writer-owned publication, Racket, had an article featuring the merchandise at Modern Times published back in April. Alverson says articles like these are helping both his restaurant and Elpis get more of their work recognized by the public.
“I was honestly surprised that more journalists in the city didn’t take notice of the massive amount of our t-shirts that are circulating. I have friends in different states and cities that always like to tell me when they run across Modern Times shirts in the wild. I think it was great to be noticed and it was nice to be able to promote Elpis in that,” said Alverson.
It’s also led to some unique sightings throughout the country by friends and family of Alverson spotting Modern Times merchandise in the last place they’d expect.
“I think the funniest was my brother and sister-in-law. We’ve been producing a run of sweatpants every year, which is pretty outside of the box for a restaurant but has been really successful. They were really puzzled by it and asked ‘Who wears sweatpants?’ They were in the San Francisco airport a week after we had that conversation and saw someone wearing Modern Times sweatpants in the airport.”
No matter what the Modern Times has needed shirts, tote bags, and even those obscure sweatpants. Elpis Enterprises has always been able to meet their demands and help them become more than just a restaurant and the community partner for artists they’ve become known to be.
“Whether small or large size runs, they’ve always been willing to deal with our demands,” said Alverson.
