Why We're Relaunching...
It all started with a dumb dream.
In December of 2022, my wife Sandra and I opened the doors of The Common House. Prior to this point, we were the classic example of "work hard-play hard." Most workdays ended at 9pm and almost every penny we made went to travel. Inspired by my family's Italian culture and driven to see as much of the world as we could with backpacks and credit card points, we knew that a lifetime of earning for the sake of earning was not for us.
Ultimately, we fell in love with the small cafes and eateries scattered across the older places of the world. Less enthusiastic about modernity, we became enthralled with the backalley shops, old wooden floors, and the cultures that prioritized and revered these locations as meeting places for common, everyday life. Although we didn't have the experience or master plan, we decided to try and bring this concept back to our new home in Anderson, South Carolina.
How did this dream pan out?
Fast forward three months into opening and you'd find us in the hardest season of our lives. Surrounded by the ever-evolving problems and hardships of running a cafe and eatery open seven days a week. To be honest, there were too many sleepless nights to count, a couple dozen flops and failures, and so many ideas that just didn't work out as we had hoped. But over the first year-and-a-half of being open, we persevered, continued growing, continued learning, and continued pursuing the heart of that dream we had in the beginning.
Our incredible team.
That brings us to our team, the core of this business. The number one reason it is where it is today is because we have the most badass team of hardworking, passionate, and talented individuals. This team came from all walks of life and backgrounds, with all different skill-sets and passions. In our diversity, we came together to abandon the solo life in pursuit of creating something far beyond what any one person can do.
Ours is a team of future experts in their fields, a team of people who put others before themselves, a team who is relentless about all things food, drink, and service, and a team that has come alongside the original vision, only to make it so much bigger and bolder than anything we could have imagined. Since open, this team has not only grown and maintained the life of our vibrant daytime cafe, but also built the foundation of the future restaurant.
The New Common House.
Yes, we have seen so much growth over the past year, but everything we have done has simply paved the way for the release of our full concept. Over the next five weeks, we will be completely revamping and renovating our kitchen, perfecting our style of Old World cooking, expanding our menu with intentionally sourced ingredients, curating a selection of culturally significant wine/beer/cocktails, and improving all things guest experience. There will be hiccups and challenges, failures, and many changes to come. But alongside our new location and roastery opening this year, we are all hellbent on bringing this concept to The Upstate. Expect great things from this team over the next few years, because I would bet a lot of painstakingly handmade pasta that the Upstate has never seen passion, drive, and a pain resilience like this before.
How you can help.
During this challenging time of our restaurant being closed and renovating our building, we are dedicated to keeping our staff paid and taken care of. We are asking for your support as we tackle this dream together, and work to bring this dream to fruition.
Help us by buying as much coffee as your health can support, trying out some of our new light-lunch options we are launching, and stopping by Thursday-Saturday nights to hang out with us while we are still serving cocktails, wine, beer, and coffee! 100% of our sales during this time go to the staff and renovation, so your support truly does impact not only the future of this business, but the team dedicated to it.
We are so thankful for all of the commoners here, and for your support, excitement, and passion as you get excited about all of this alongside us. Thank you for bringing us this far, we are so excited to share what we have in store in the next few weeks.
Salute, Chef Adam