Alvarado Street Bakery facts for kids
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| Cooperative | |
| Industry | Bakery |
| Founded | 1979 |
| Headquarters | Petaluma, California United States |
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Number of employees
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80 |
Alvarado Street Bakery is a special kind of bakery located in Petaluma, California. It is owned by its workers, meaning the employees also own the business! They make delicious certified organic whole grain breads and bagels. Alvarado Street Bakery was even featured in a 2009 movie called Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore.
This bakery is set up as a worker cooperative. In a worker cooperative, each employee gets one share in the business. This share gives them an equal vote on how the business is run. They get to decide on important things like employee benefits, salaries, and how to use the company's profits. In 2009, more than half of the employees had worked there for over 15 years. This shows how much they enjoy being part of the team!
History of Alvarado Street Bakery
Alvarado Street Bakery started in 1977. It was part of a larger group of employee-owned natural food businesses called the Red Clover Worker's Brigade. This group was active in the San Francisco Bay Area.
By 1981, only two businesses from the original group were still operating: Alvarado Street Bakery and Santa Rosa Community Market. Five of the eight bakery workers decided to create their own separate company. These workers were Bruce Gustin, Diana Thomas, Louisa Aranow, Sandy Turner, and Debbie Edwards. They formed the Semper Virens Bakery Food Cooperative, Inc., which we know today as Alvarado Street Bakery. The bakery got its name from a fallen Alvarado Street sign they saw in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, during a delivery trip.
The bakery grew very quickly. Its strong focus on using organic ingredients helped it become very successful in the organic food world during the 1980s. Today, Alvarado Street Bakery bakes over 40,000 loaves of bread every day! They even use solar power in their bakery. They are especially famous for their unique flour-less sprouted wheat breads.
