The Food 
Since the day we opened in July of 2007, we've been offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner made from scratch with as many local, organic, and fair-trade ingredients as possible. We keep track of every ingredient we use because we think that our customers deserve to know where their food comes from and where their dollars are going. We are very proud to share this information!
In July 89% of all our purchases were local, organic, or fair-trade. More and more local products are available as the growing season progresses -- 59% of all our food purchases in July were local.
This commitment to responsible sourcing is made possible by designing our menu to feature good ingredients throughout the year. We change our menu constantly to make use of the best, local, organic, and fair-trade ingredients we can get. We have a great kitchen staff that enjoys the challenge of cooking new things all the time, and we hope that you enjoy the variety.
We regularly get asked how we get through the Minnesota winter cooking locally and seasonally. Going into our first winter, we figured we'd do our best using local grains, dairy, and meats. We far exceeded our hopes – during the winter months (December, January and February) 55% of all of our food purchases were local! 82% of all our food and beverage purchases during those months were local, organic, or fair-trade.
Thank you for eating at Common Roots, for being interested in where the food comes from, and for getting the word out about Common Roots and local foods!
Sincerely,
Danny Schwartzman
Owner
Common Roots Cafe
| July 2007 - July 2008 Food and Beverage Purchases | |||||
| Local | Locally Processed | Organic Valley Co-Op Midwest Dairy Pool | Organic, Not Local | Fair Trade | Total Local, Organic, or Fair Trade |
| 39.0% | 3.7% | 12.5% | 17.8% | 13.9% | 83.1% |
| July 2008 Food and Beverage Purchases | |||||
| Local | Locally Processed | Organic Valley Co-Op Midwest Dairy Pool | Organic, Not Local | Fair Trade | Total Local, Organic, or Fair Trade |
| 38.8% | 4.7% | 9.7% | 21.8% | 14.4% | 89.4% |
Local: Grown/Raised within a 250 mile radius of Common Roots. Much of the local produce we buy is also organic. Almost all of the dairy products and flour we use is local, and we never serve meat that isn’t local and either grass-fed or free-range.
Locally Processed: Processed within a 250 mile radius of Common Roots (largely beer). We include these purchases in our overall local food purchasing numbers.
Organic Valley Co-Op Midwest Dairy Pool: Produced by Organic Valley's midwest dairy farmers. All of the family farms that participate in the dairy pool are in the Midwest, and they're concentrated in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We include these purchases in our overall local food purchasing numbers.
Organic, Not Local: Certified organic, but not from within a 250 mile radius.
Fair-Trade: Certified Fair Trade. Almost all of the fair-trade products we buy are also certified organic.
Common Roots Cafe • 2558 Lyndale Ave. S. • Minneapolis, MN 55405
(612) 871-2360 • info@commonrootscafe.com