“We were changing the vision a little bit,” says Kennelly-Gaither. “The prices of the old pour-overs were too expensive for the area. Our focus being more community-driven, we felt that rebranding would help the community be reintroduced to us.”
Kennelly-Gaither, previously a manager at Viva Coffee Roasters, first connected with Radical Bean through her work at Viva, which has supplied beans to the coffee shop since its opening. As they prepared to transition out, she met Rayan Saoud, who was taking over the business. After leaving Viva, she was eager to return to the coffee industry and found her interests aligned with Radical Bean’s mission.
“What we’re trying to do is create a third space that is realistically meeting the needs of the community as well as an affordable place,” Kennelly-Gaither says. “A lot of our regulars are a part of DSA (Democratic Socialists of America), and we want to be able to host a space for them to meet and talk about ideas, talk about giving back to the community. We want to be able to create a space for building friendships and community, but also teaching people skills, teaching people things that they might not know.
Read the rest at Cincinnnati Magazine
Add new comment