TIME Magazine, in its coverage of Cleveland's Evergreen Cooperative Group mentions our Association and it inspiration from the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation of Spain.
The Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives, the umbrella organization for a group of four (soon to be six) worker-owned bakeries in the San Francisco Bay Area, took its name as well as its business plan from Mondragon. The companies share technical and financial resources — as well as proprietary recipes — and a portion of profits goes to funding new enterprises. The notion of cooperative artisan bakeries sounds quaint, but the group is thinking beyond the breadbox. "We consider this the very beginning phase," says Melissa Hoover of Arizmendi, who is also executive director of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives. She says the companies plan to develop more businesses and are researching possibilities "along the supply chain": trucking, retail, health and wellness, as well as a funding vehicle like Caja Laboral.
Arizmendi now employs 125 workers and annually generates $12 million in sales. Despite the economic downturn, the businesses remain strong and poised for growth. This in part owes to the collective decision-making model, says Hoover. "Worker-owned cooperatives are an innately conservative form. We didn't overleverage ourselves."