Almost every cafe in the country keeps a row of Torani syrups near the espresso machine, but few customers ever think about what it looks like to make a living on the factory floor where those bottles are filled.
That divide between corporate values and what actually happens on the clock is at the center of Flavors of Fair Work, an evening panel and syrup tasting happening at Torani's San Leandro headquarters on Tuesday, September 15. Hosted alongside B Local Bay Area, the regional network of Certified B Corporations, the event brings together frontline workers, managers, and advocates to discuss what practical workplace equity looks like when pay, decision-making power, and company ownership are on the table.
Tying Skills Directly to Wages
Torani started a century ago in North Beach, when Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre began blending Italian syrup recipes. Today the company runs a major production facility in the East Bay, operates as a certified B Corp, and talks openly about workforce development as core to its mission.
In 2022, the company launched an internal framework called Skill Blocks. Instead of relying on traditional, often arbitrary annual reviews, the system was designed to give production employees a clear ladder. Learn to operate a new piece of equipment or master a quality control procedure, and your hourly pay goes up accordingly.
It sounds straightforward, but putting that kind of system into practice on an active manufacturing floor is complicated. At the panel, Becca Russell, Torani's head of people and opportunity development, will talk through what they have learned since launching it: who actually gets tapped for training, how progress gets certified, and where the policy has run into real-world hurdles.
Beyond the Breakroom Suggestion Box
Fair pay solves only part of the problem. Just as important is what happens when someone on shift disagrees with a supervisor, catches a workflow problem, or comes up with a better way to run a line.
Nicole Farkouh, founder of workplace culture advisory CultureWonk, will dig into why genuine employee voice comes down to everyday mechanics rather than empty corporate promises:
- Does feedback get routed through layers of red tape, or can a problem be solved directly on shift?
- When leadership decides against an employee idea, does anyone bother to explain why?
- Do frontline workers actually know who holds the authority to approve a change?
What Real Worker Ownership Looks Like
For a concrete local example of giving workers legal authority, look about 25 miles north to The Watershed Nursery in Richmond.
In 2024, founders Diana Benner and Laura Hanson converted their native-plant nursery into a full worker cooperative with technical guidance from Project Equity, an Oakland-based nonprofit dedicated to business conversions. They wanted the people who physically built the nursery to guide its future.
That commitment meant tackling language access head-on. The founders ran the entire conversion process with live Spanish and English interpretation and bilingual documentation so that language was never a barrier to ownership. Today, frontline staff members like plant production associate Edwin Ruiz and inventory manager Stephanie Kyne Madrigali sit directly on the worker-elected governing board.
Stacey Smith, senior vice president of programs at Project Equity, will join the San Leandro panel to compare co-ops like Watershed with alternatives like Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs), breaking down the practical differences in how each model handles profit and governance.
The Gathering
The evening is designed for anyone interested in practical models over corporate buzzwords, whether you are an employee pushing for fair advancement, a manager trying to share real authority, or a local business owner thinking about succession.
- When: Tuesday, September 15, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
- Where: Torani Headquarters, 2000 Marina Boulevard, San Leandro
- What to expect: A guided syrup tasting, the panel discussion, and open networking
- Details: Check the B Local Bay Area event calendar for registration and availability.
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