Common Roots Cafe in Minneapolis suddenly closes for good - FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

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FILE PHOTO: A sign 'Closed' seen on a closed restaurant door. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Common Roots Cafe in Minneapolis has suddenly closed after 15 years in business, with the owner citing financial struggles before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among other reasons. 

"Common Roots has served our last meal — I’m sorry to say I’ve decided to close down the business," Danny Schwartzman, the owner of Common Roots, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. He thanked customers, suppliers, staff and others for their continued support over the years, saying they're the ones who helped make Common Roots "not just a restaurant but a community."

Schwartzman pointed to struggles with money before and during the pandemic as reasons for closing, noting over the past year he worked to make the 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," the post said. "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."

Schwartzman noted at "some point" they had 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 money isn't the only reason for this "sudden closure," Schwartzman said. He learned last week that the majority of his staff wanted to unionize. And although he wanted to run a union 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," Schwartzman said. 

He noted he has no plans for what's next for him or the space, but hopes a new restaurant will move into the spot on Lyndale Avenue South. As for those with gift cards, Common Roots is still honoring them through the sales of spices and dry goods, or a cash refund. All you have to do is email info@commonrootscafe.com by Jan. 15, 2023, and the restaurant will be in touch on how to get the gift card purchase refunded.

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Common Roots Cafe in Minneapolis suddenly closes for good - FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul
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