Meet the Makers

Coffee and Tea · Los Angeles, California

Groundwork Coffee

One of Southern California's first certified organic coffee roasters, born in Venice.

Founded
1991
Founded by
Richard Karno
Based in
Los Angeles, California

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Their story

Groundwork began in 1991 on Rose Avenue in Venice, California, where Richard Karno opened a small shop that was part rare-book store, part coffee roastery. It was family-run and very much a neighborhood place.

In 1994 Groundwork became one of the first certified organic coffee roasters in Southern California. It has since grown into a string of Los Angeles cafes and a grocery brand found in stores across the region, while keeping organic coffee at its center.

How it's made

Groundwork roasts certified organic, non-GMO coffee grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. It sources from farms that pay workers fairly and reinvest in their communities, and roasts for both its cafes and retail shelves.

Organic is more than a certification, it's a way of life.
Eddy Cola, CEO, to Santa Monica Daily Press (2021)

Why we carry them

We like Groundwork as a dependable organic coffee from a California roaster that was doing this long before it was common.

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