151–160 of 472 posts
Not in any successful way, because the entire profit margin is being eaten by delivery companies like Uber Eats. There is no financial future in restaurants, worker-owned or not.
Is intentional "no delivery" a thing? It should be.
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Very reasonable prices are $40 + 8% coop fee for a standard large pizza? That's almost $50 after tax. https://asliceofny.com/sunnyvale/menu/
A “standard large pizza” is 14", the size of their small ; 16" is a common extra-large size, their large is 18” (1.65× the size of a “standard large pizza”, by area.) $43.20 ($40+8%) is quite reasonable for an 18" multiple topping pizza.
RIP.
Start to lose that just a little bit, where responsibility gets diffuse, the original intention gets lost, or you start hiring people who don't have the same understanding, and it all falls apart.
Not every worker wants to have an equal share of the grunt work. Not every worker believes that they contribute equally to the success of the restaurant and are willing to split the proceeds in that way. Not every worker wants to have to live the restaurant as if it's their life.
Worker owned coops have as many failure modes as "evil" corporate ones do. And in some senses are all the more disappointing because of it.
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>> If you work at McDonalds, in is 100% in your interest to do the absolute bare minimum possible to not be fired Or: If it's flipping hamburgers at McDonald's, be the best hamburger flipper in the world Ice Cube, or Abraham Lincoln, or Dave Ramsey said that. I forgot which one.
Horatio Alger stories were about humble, brave, smart and hardworking boys from troubled, deprived backgrounds who found terrible, unrewarding jobs or situations, worked hard, smart, or bravely at them, and were observed doing this by successful, wealthy, and wise men who recognized that raw merit, plucked those boys from their situations, moved them into their businesses and homes, and gave those boys real responsib…
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> Somehow finances have to work, which is usually a harsh reality for some. Ex: Hey we can't pay workers $250/hr without raises prices to above what customers are willing to pay If it was worker owned wouldn't you just pay everyone some reasonable wage that the business can afford and then also split profits evenly?
What is "reasonable," what is "fair." These words signify a death spiral in wage discussions. The reality is that businesses cannot increase prices forever and have a market that still wants to pay them. If I sell burgers for $10k and they're shit burgers then I'd make no money and have to shut it all down. Just like my friend who shut down his cabinetry business because he was paying his employees more than himself…
Another commenter commented on a burger-joint giving a share to "climate" causes. What a share entails in this case, whether it comes from profit, or whether they pass the cost of this cause to the customer is unknown.
Additionally I live in a place where there are reparations discussions and where unions agreed that teachers of a certain ethnicity would be eliminated first in the name of equity if it came down to staff cuts.
How does this play into the scenario if these types of events happen more often, even discussing these things is difficult and people could veer away from. I heard that Amazon inserted "woke" discussions into union talks in Georgia in an effort to de-rail them, not to engender unity.
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Is Zachary's Pizza in the same category? (I seem to recall being told there was something unusual about their structure but I can't recall the details)
You might be thinking of Arizmendi, which is a spin-off of Cheeseboard. Zachary's is family-owned, not really an uncommon setup.
> Zachary’s was founded in 1983 by Zach Zachowski and Barbara Gabel. Our employee ownership program began in 2003 via an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). Through the vision of our founders, Zachary’s is now a 100% employee owned company.
https://zacharys.com/about-us/our-people/
Also, the specifics of the relationship between Cheeseboard and Arizmendi are interesting: https://www.sfweekly.com/dining/arizmendi-bakery-s-bread-bas...
Wonderful story, thanks for sharing. Do you know any worker-owned food businesses? Share in the comments! In Preston, UK, we have The Larder. Not sure about the ownership model but it is a social enterprise working on food justice: https://larder.org.uk/
We have tons of worker-owned cooperatives in Berkeley, including Cheese Board Collective that is successful, and one block from that The Local Butcher, also worker-owned. A few blocks down was the worker-owned bike shop but it went under for reasons related to having admitted a notorious bozo into the co-op. We also have Nabolom Bakery that failed after decades as a worker co-op but survives today as an owner-owned b…
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This is a bad sign. The UK is like Argentina - if they've adopted an economic idea that means it doesn't work and you need to run away from it. https://twitter.com/JosephPolitano/status/169124217640185446...
Burn your fiat money then, pretty sure they've got that back in good ole Argentina.
(And he dresses like a 60s BBC presenter.)