Courtesy of Radical Bean Cooperative
“Community first, coffee second” is Radical Bean Cooperative’s unofficial motto. It’s at the heart of why the establishment is the city’s only worker-owned coffee shop.
First opened in November 2024 as Topia Coffee Cooperative, Radical Bean was founded as a co-op, owned and controlled by its workers on a democratic basis, meaning every worker-owner has a vote in key decisions affecting the business.
“Our business model is worker-owners,” says employee Sara Jane Kennelly-Gaither. “What that means is the baristas own the business, more than that, the owners do labor. The idea of a co-op is to be fair in wealth distribution and puts an emphasis on workers’ rights. It emphasizes a democratic system within a work environment, it opens the floor to discussion.”
Located in the Volkshaus building on McMicken in Over-the-Rhine, the initiative is part of the Co-op Cincy network, which supports worker-owned businesses in the city.
While every employee doesn’t immediately start out as a worker-owner at Radical Bean, the underlying goal is to make sure employees get to that status. Typically complete a six-month employment period before they are eligible to apply for worker-ownership at a board meeting.
Photograph by Claire Lefton
After the original worker-owners transitioned out in late 2025, new worker-owner Rayan Saoud took over the storefront. Employees Katelyn Saoud and Kennelly-Gaither are now on the path to worker-ownership. The new team and vision prompted the name change and rebrand. As the co-op enters this new era, new voices are helping shape its direction, including Kennelly-Gaither.
“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.”
Photograph by Claire Lefton
Kennelly-Gaither is eager to help shape the shop’s community events—continuing traditions that began at Topia as well. “A lot of the events that they used to do at Topia are still really awesome ideas,” she notes. “They had karaoke nights, they had some DJ nights, something that Topia did pretty regularly was Spanish conversation nights and that’s something that we also care about. These Spanish conversation nights could be a third space for Spanish-speaking people, and it could also be a learning opportunity for people who don’t know Spanish and want to learn. That bridges gaps in the community.”
Although Radical Bean plans to continue building on the sense of community established by Topia, the newly reopened shop is still finding its footing. With a fresh start and many ideas for future events, the team is still gradually planning future events and partnering with other local co-ops and non-profits.
Through all the change and planning, one thing remains constant. At its core, it’s still a coffee shop. Brewing affordable, quality coffee with housemade syrups, rotating holiday menus, and a welcoming atmosphere continues to be at the heart of what they do.
“We’re trying really hard to make sure that we’re running our business and have a pricing model that makes sense for the community,” Kennelly-Gaither says. “If you’re coming in and you want a drip coffee, a drip coffee’s two dollars because that makes sense with us and with our community members. The culture that we’re trying to cultivate here is one of you are safe, and you are accepted, and we will always treat you with kindness as long as you are coming in with kindness as well.”
123 E. McMicken Ave., Over-the-Rhine, (513) 202-4871, coopcincy.org/radicalbeancoop
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