Why it exists
Common Grounds exists to help independent coffee shops, and in time other local food businesses, become more sustainable for the planet and for their own books, and stronger together than they could be apart. It means to get there through shared programs, shared infrastructure and local partnerships.
The governance draft spells that out:
- practical sustainability pilots, starting with how shops measure and divert their waste;
- less waste through shared logistics, education, and partners such as farms, gardens and composters;
- lower costs where buying or arranging something together makes sense for every shop;
- decisions guided by data, with each shop in control of its own;
- a written record of what works, so other coffee shops and restaurants can adopt it.
How it started
The cooperative grew out of a ten-month study led by Circular Earth and funded by Arizona State University's Create the Change program. Circular Earth surveyed Phoenix-area business owners and met with coffee shop owners to map where their supplies come from, what they throw away and where it could go. The owners came out of the study wanting to keep working together, and decided to form a cooperative.
In August 2026 the founding shops drafted the cooperative's governance and its first circle charters. In September 2026 they applied for funding for their first project, ROAST.
Where it stands
Our Members own and govern Common Grounds together. We're choosing the legal structure that will make that ownership formal.
Until that structure exists, the cooperative runs on a governance draft the Members test as they go. It describes the rights the Members intend to hold, such as a vote, a share of ownership and a share of any surplus, but it is not a legal document, and nobody holds those rights in law yet. The model pages say which parts are working practice and which are proposals.
Who is involved
The Members are Beanchain Coffee (Mesa), Cafetal Coffee (Tempe), Fair Trade Cafe (Downtown Phoenix) and White Blossom Café (Arizona Capitol Museum, Phoenix): independent coffee shops that keep their own businesses and run the cooperative together through the Founding Circle. Circular Earth works beside them as the Sustainability Partner, bringing the cooperative's sustainability, data and funding work.
Shared work happens in circles. The Founding Circle holds the decisions that affect the whole cooperative, and the ROAST circle runs its first project. Each circle fills the roles its work needs, from a facilitator for meetings to a data steward who keeps shop data safe and light. How the circles work.