Not Just Small Businesses

One common misconception is that worker cooperatives cannot scale. CHCA, a Bronx-based agency, is an example of a co-op with over 2,050 employees, nearly all Latinx and African-American women, and more than half are worker-owners.

The franchise model as well as the association model are used to increase the number of businesses cooperatively owned.

Example: Arizmendi Bakeries

Another example of worker cooperatives that sought to replicate democratically operated businesses that function as part of an interdependent economic framework is the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives. According to Joe Marraffino, a former cooperative organizer, “When the Association is ready to develop a new bakery cooperative, we find a new site, draw new capitalization loans, recruit new worker-owners, and face the risks that any new enterprise faces. However, these risks are reduced by what is not new: the enterprise adapts the same business plan that existing member bakeries have used, it offers a tested product line using the same recipes, it has a similar name and co-advertises to nearby markets, it uses proven governance structures, and it shares the cost of support services with other members. It even houses some of the same sourdough starter culture. Building on these similarities, the new worker cooperative bakery will cost less, start faster, and be more resilient than an unprecedented business. This initial advantage is reinforced by a network of similar businesses offering mutual aid, and by enduring technical assistance.”

This method has proven successful as 5 bakeries and recently a landscaping design/build cooperative as well as a construction cooperative have been established in the San Francisco/Bay Area.

Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives Website