Oh, I've been to that restaurant before --it was fantastic. I had no idea it was worker-owned.
And yes, obviously worker-owned (x) can work. There are many examples among the comments.
Can a worker-owned restaurant work?
191–200 of 472 posts
Re: Can a worker-owned restaurant work?
#192Wouldn't a family-owned business also qualify?
A very small one might. But a lot of family owned businesses employ their kids or other employees as regular, wage-base staff, without having a say in decisions.
Re: Can a worker-owned restaurant work?
#193It reminds me of when people complain about stuff like Electron apps.
If you hate it, go do it yourself. You’ll either a) succeed and solve your problem or b) develop a much more complete understanding of the problems being faced by someone in a different role.
I think every worker would benefit from being more involved in the business operations, or really any other jobs that help their company/project function.
(of course it’s probably not practical to do so)
Re: Can a worker-owned restaurant work?
#194Yes, absolutely, but there are pitfalls: * 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 * Consumers despite "Least common denominator" which is often the result of "design by committee". Usually consumers are after something niche, unique, artistic, and creative, which is the inspiration…
> Hey we can't pay workers $250/hr without raises prices to above what customers are willing to pay There are restaurants that charge north of 800$ per person which are always fully booked half a year in advance with glowing reviews even from the worst critics hellbent on being negative. You certainly can pay workers $250 an hour without raising prices above what customers are willing to pay depending on the product.…
Well, Noma can charge customers up to $1500 per person and average worker is paid around $50/ hr.
Masa Sushi charges $1000/ person and hourly worker pay is $20.
There maybe a rare one but I don't know of a restaurants that charges $1K / person can pay worker $250.
Re: Can a worker-owned restaurant work?
#195Yes, absolutely, but there are pitfalls: * 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 * Consumers despite "Least common denominator" which is often the result of "design by committee". Usually consumers are after something niche, unique, artistic, and creative, which is the inspiration…
In my experience the opposite is almost always true: > Somehow finances have to work, which is usually a harsh reality for some At most places I've been involved in the workers are more careful with money because they are standing together and want the business to succeed. They have transparency into the finances, so they know what's possible and try to make sure not to go overboard. > Consumers despite "Least common…
> At most places I've been involved in the workers are more careful with money because they are standing together and want the business to succeed.
This doesn't contradict anything GP said. Worker owners are careful with company money because they have to be, due to being invested into it. That's a responsibility that not everyone wants, especially when an organization approaches the scale of tragedy of the commons. How many regular voters bother to read the raw, uneditorialized finances that the government provides?
> co-ops have a higher success rate than hierarchical businesses
This is only true when you're defining success as a binary "does this company still exist." Worker-owned companies are significantly less likely to expand because they would be creating risk but would have to share the additional profits with the new hires. This would especially be the case for a restaurant which doesn't benefit from economies of scale (see Publix supermaket as an example of a worker-owned corporation that does).
Even if Jude's can sustainably pay $30/hour, it would take hundreds of similar restaurants to match the success of a single "nice" privately owned restaurant chain like In-and-Out, which also pays above-market wages to thousands of employees, albeit not as above market as Jude's.
Re: Can a worker-owned restaurant work?
#196Wonderful 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…
I love Cheese Board, but look, several of their members left the coop and opened a regular corp Sliver as a direct competitor, which expanded to multiple locations. They can't remake the brand, but their pizza is just as good. "You either die a hero or..."
Re: Can a worker-owned restaurant work?
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also in Italy there is a region where a lot of "companies" are cooperatives, (Emilia-Romagna), I'd say it's one of the wealthiest regions in Italy, I've lived there and was one of my happiest time in my life. I'd say a restaurant owned by workers can work, but as everything depends who do you work with, more than class, is personalities that make the difference, that's why I don't like these kind of articles, I think…
Switzerland has a retail/grocery chain called co-op, I always wondered if it was an actual coop or not, I’m guessing it is.
Both of the largest grocery chains in Switzerland are coops, there is also a prevalent bank and a large agricultural federation and more.
But most of these are primarily consumer coops not worker coops.
Re: Can a worker-owned restaurant work?
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
MacBook M1, afternoon sunlight behind me but not directly glaring. Brightness is at about 60%. It's readable. It's not great. I've seen a lot worse (slightly dark grey on lighter grey, faded tan on medium blue, cyan on bright green...)
What about the background pattern that is nearly the same as the text color?
Didn’t you read the part where he is using an M1?
Re: Can a worker-owned restaurant work?
#199It reminds me of when people complain about stuff like Electron apps. If you hate it, go do it yourself. You’ll either a) succeed and solve your problem or b) develop a much more complete understanding of the problems being faced by someone in a different role. I think every worker would benefit from being more involved in the business operations, or really any other jobs that help their company/project function. (of…
> If you hate it, go do it yourself.
Exactly right. All large enterprises I have worked give full freedom to devs to develop alternative to any SAAS product they dislike. As simple as that.
Re: Can a worker-owned restaurant work?
#200Yes, absolutely, but there are pitfalls: * 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 * Consumers despite "Least common denominator" which is often the result of "design by committee". Usually consumers are after something niche, unique, artistic, and creative, which is the inspiration…
Noone is saying that restaurant employees would make $250/hour. While the rates cited in the article are higher than most employees earn in equivalent environments, the are still modest in comparison to other industries (and they are absorbing some risk by buying shares, something that most $30/hour employees don't do).
The committee that you spoke of have a vested interest in the outcome of the decisions and, in certain cases, the decision must have full support of the board. While this will have problems, it is unlikely to suffer from the symptoms that most people think of when they think of something being designed by committee.
The other thing to consider here is that this is a relatively small business. As such, it is possible to recruit a board that is more likely to share a common vision and train them in operating a business. We are not talking about a fast food chain with tens of thousand of employees and little interest in training beyond the skills to fit a singular role.
I don't know if operating a restaurant as a cooperative is viable in the long run, but I am not going to argue against it from a prejudiced position.