12/29/2022
After 15 amazing years, Common Roots has served our last meal — I’m sorry to say I’ve decided to close down the business.
I have so very much to be thankful for. When I opened Common Roots I was 25 and full of vision and an idealistic urge to make a dream a reality. I believed our community would rally around a values-driven business as long as we operated with integrity, the food was good, and the space was welcoming. And I was right - you’ve made Common Roots not just a restaurant but a community.
Thanks to all our staff who have made Common Roots special. Their endless efforts baking bagels, working our line, being the friendly person who made your espresso drink or a bagel sandwich, serving at catering events all over our community, they made the business what it was.
Thanks to our amazing farmers, brewers, distillers, millers, coffee roasters, local distributors and more who provided us with exceptional food and drink to work with. We were oh so fortunate to be located in a community with such a vibrant local food system.
Thanks to all of our customers, especially our regulars, so many of whom have cycled in and out over the years. We have had the fortune of having the support of an exceptional cast of characters who made Common Roots their regular haunt. And to all the people who kept on coming back for that one thing they loved, who always made a point of stopping by when they were back in town after moving away. To all the people who made a point of supporting us because we stood up for values they shared, be it through the Restaurants Rising fundraisers for immigrant rights or Hate Has No Business Here campaign, the local foods community, the broader progressive community that rallied behind us when we stood up for good workplace practices like earned sick and safe time, so many people. And all of you who made our catering a part of your weddings and other special events. We are so very thankful for all the support.
And thank you to all the people who helped us start our garden behind the cafe, and to the people who have helped us maintain it over the years.
Thanks to all the neighborhood residents who have been so welcoming.
I started this business with a dream and was naive enough to not fully realize how utterly impractical it was. Thanks to all of you, we made it a reality for 15 mostly great years.
But the run is over. Why?
The truth is that a small business like this is a tremendous load to carry. Every year requires looking ahead and deciding that despite whatever challenges are in front of us, we are optimistic that it could be a good year and we’ll be able to navigate it all. And be able to carry the load.
Even before the pandemic, we regularly had many years that financially were a failure. But there were so many less tangible successes, and hope for improving the business in ways that aligned with my values.
This past year we worked hard to make our business make sense and operate at a manageable volume. While we dramatically reduced our monthly losses during the course of the year, the business still will end 2022 with a large financial loss. We are still only operating at roughly half the sales we did prior to the pandemic. Our margins were thin in good times, but there’s absolutely no possibility of the budget working at anywhere near the volume we are at now. At some point, I have to accept the reality in front of me and as soon as I’ve lost hope for next year, there’s no way I’ll be able to get through all of the infinite challenges that present themselves, even in the best of years.
But there’s more to the sudden closure than that. Part of my goal with the cafe has been transparency and openness. With that in mind, I want to share that last week I was informed by UNITE HERE local 17 staff that a majority of my staff wanted to unionize. Let me be extra clear — I fully support the labor movement and would have loved being able to run a union business. It would make the business even more of a positive representation of my values. Providing a good place to work and advocating for policies that make those practices more available everywhere has been central to my vision for the cafe since day one.
I really wanted to move forward and find a way to say yes, we can do this and add another positive component to how our business operates, but this big step forced me to take a fresh look at the overall state of the business. I couldn’t commit to moving forward if I didn’t have confidence I would be able to keep the business open under all the very many different strains the business is under.
When I took a careful look at the totality of the challenges I faced, the financial losses, the operational challenges, the personal toll of the ongoing strain of 15 years of confronting countless problems, small and large, I knew I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t keep believing I could make next year a success in the face of reality. It’s time to call it done. Nothing lasts forever.
This isn’t how I would have scripted ending the business, but any end was going to be rough – this is much more than just a business for me and for so many others. It has been a great 15 years.
No plans yet on what’s next for me. I’m going to take some time to figure that out. And as for the space, I hope to see a new restaurant take our place. We have a building with great character, an amazing patio, a big garden, awesome community around us, and good vibes. I hope the space won’t be vacant for long.
As for the basic logistics, we’ve already closed our doors for the last time, but if you have gift cards you’d like to redeem we have some amazing options of organic dry goods and spices you can buy with them, but I bet that might not be what you want. We’ll also offer cash refund options – just reply to this email within the next two weeks and we’ll be back in touch on how to get the gift card purchase refunded. If you have a catering event you’ve booked with us we’ll be in touch with you individually, but will be refunding in full any deposit you paid.
Thanks for everything!
–Danny
