Common Grounds Cafe

Julie Martinez opened Common Grounds Cafe on January 16th, 2008 as part of People For Care And Learning. The vision was to create a missional enterprise that would give poor and disadvantaged individuals in Siem Reap the chance to work. We believe that instead of handing out handouts, we should give people the opportunity to work in the hospitality and restaurant industry.

Over the past 11 years we have provided training and jobs to dozens of Cambodian young people, and we have ecstatically cheered them on watching many of them go on to successful careers, some of them working in some of the top hotels and restaurants Cambodia has to offer.

In 2008, Dalath Loeut was hired as one of our initial 13 employees. He is from a poor family in the countryside of Battambang province and he had no previous job experience in the restaurant industry. He began working for us as a waiter and, through hard work and dedication, he worked his way up to take on more and greater responsibility. In 2015, Dalath became the manager of Common Grounds, and today he carries out all of our day-to-day operations. He is now on the other side of the spectrum, providing hope to young people with similar backgrounds to himself.