‘Not your typical train station cafe’: Cafe La France is a staple for Providence commuters and locals

She works 12-hour days to ensure operations run smoothly and her employees uphold her strict standard of engaging with customers and “creating an environment where people are enjoying themselves.”

If you’re passing through the station, you’ll likely overhear Darmstatter playfully teasing her staff while tossing bread in the toaster and enthusiastically greeting regular customers.

Though Cafe La France has a few locations sprinkled around Providence, Darmstatter’s location is a “separate entity from the rest,” she says. Independently owned and operated, Darmstatter has driven the cafe to new heights since she took on the role of general manager in 2011.

Darmstatter hails from California, but made her way to the Northeast to attend Emerson College and started a family in Massachusetts after she graduated. She owned a cafe in White Horse Beach in Plymouth, Mass., called Mermaid Cafe before moving to Rhode Island in 2009.

She has always been involved in retail work of some sort, but is particularly keen on the food industry.

So when she saw an opportunity to make Cafe La France as fresh, local, and organic as possible by becoming general manager, she grabbed it.

Her first move was eradicating the freezer that used to hold frozen bagels and breads that the cafe would heat up every morning, as many quick-service cafes do.

“I had to start from scratch,” she said. “Throw everything out, clean everything, scrub everything, and then slowly start incorporating fresh pastries every day delivered from bakeries.”

The cafe offers a soup of the day and a variety of curated sandwich options. One of their most popular menu items was inspired by a former worker whose mother owned a restaurant in Brazil. The sandwich is called “The Carnival” and includes turkey, brie, arugula, and apricot preserves on a baguette.

“The quality is what sets us apart from most train station cafes,” she said.

They also offer seasonal menus. This spring, that means fresh strawberries or dill havarti cheese on sandwiches.

But managing the cafe hasn’t always been easy.

Darmstatter is still trying to rebound from the financial effect the COVID-19 pandemic had on the establishment, when only two trains a day came through the Amtrak station and few to no locals stopped in for food.

“It’s been really hard to staff,” she said. “Weekends I’ve been struggling to get open since the pandemic.”

She finally has a “skeleton crew” that opens the eatery from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, she had 13 employees, eight of whom were full-time. Now she has four full-time employees. “Everybody’s doing more of everything,” she said.

Darmstatter said their business has been steadily improving over the last few years, and sales are almost back to where they were pre-pandemic.

Luis Gutierrez, 36, has stuck with the cafe as a loyal employee since before the pandemic, and is celebrating his seventh year serving up sandwiches. (Darmstatter affectionally calls him the “Sandwich God.”)

“Everybody feels comfortable around her,” Gutierrez said of Darmstatter’s management style.

Gutierrez said it’s especially nice to hear customers observe the atmosphere of the cafe and its expansive menu and tell him “We don’t see this in New York” at Penn Station.

Darmstatter can be found behind the counter of the cafe mornings and afternoons, brightening days for weekly commuters or hungry locals coming from the nearby State House.

“I’m going to give you a good sandwich for a good price,” she promises.

Alexa Coultoff can be reached at alexa.coultoff@globe.com. Follow her @alexacoultoff.