Groceries, bakeries and food: Worker-Owned and Employee-Owned in the Bay Area

Worker-Owned Businesses

Grocers, bakeries, cafes and the co-op and employee-owned food brands on Bay Area shelves. 17 businesses, each owned by the people who work there. Information verified September 2026; call ahead for hours.

San Francisco

• Other Avenues Food Store Cooperative Worker cooperativeNeighborhood organic grocery with bulk, produce, body care and household goods, a few blocks from Ocean Beach.San Francisco, Outer Sunset
• Rainbow Grocery Cooperative Worker cooperativeA full-service vegetarian grocery with bulk bins, produce, cheese, body care and household goods, owned and run by the people at the registers and in the aisles since 1975.San Francisco, Mission

East Bay

• Coracao Chocolate Direct employee ownershipOrganic vegan chocolate bars, truffles and hot chocolate, from a maker that calls itself employee-owned and climate neutral.Richmond
• Hasta Muerte Coffee Worker cooperativeCoffee, signature drinks and food in a cafe that doubles as a community room.Oakland, Fruitvale
• Mandela Grocery Cooperative Worker cooperativeProduce, staples and prepared food in a neighborhood that went without a grocery store for years, sourcing from local Black and Brown farmers.Oakland, West Oakland
• Niles Pie Company Worker cooperativeSweet and savory pies, pasties and hand pies with seasonal organic ingredients.Union City, Niles
• The Cheese Board Collective Worker cooperativeCheese shop and bakery next door to the pizzeria that makes one pizza a day.Berkeley, Gourmet Ghetto
• The Local Butcher Shop Worker cooperativeLocally and sustainably raised meat, charcuterie, pantry goods and butchery classes.Berkeley, Gourmet Ghetto
• Three Stone Hearth Worker cooperativeA cooperative community kitchen making bone broths, cultured foods, frozen meals and pantry staples from local ingredients.Berkeley
• Torani ESOPThe flavored syrup in half the cafes in the Bay, made by a family company that turned 100 in 2025 and set up an employee stock ownership plan in 2022; an outside investor also holds a minority stake, so this is shared ownership rather than full.San Leandro
• WinCo Foods ESOPA discount warehouse supermarket with large bulk sections, open 24 hours at most stores, owned mostly by its employees since 1985.Pittsburg, Brentwood and Vacaville
• Zachary's Chicago Pizza ESOPDeep-dish and thin-crust pizza from a family restaurant whose founders began selling to employees in 2006 and finished in 2010.Oakland (Rockridge and Grand Lake), Berkeley, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, Livermore

South Bay

• A Slice of New York Worker cooperativeNew York pizza by the slice and the pie, from a founder-owned shop that converted to a worker co-op in 2017 and became one of the Bay's most cited examples of how to do it.San Jose

North Bay

• FEED Sonoma Cooperative Worker cooperativeA food hub owned jointly by the farmers who grow the food and the workers who move it, with a board split between the two.Petaluma
• Oliver's Market ESOPAn independent full-service supermarket that went 43 percent employee-owned in 2017 and fully employee-owned in 2024.Sonoma County: Cotati, Windsor, and two Santa Rosa stores (Montecito and Stony Point)

Across the Bay

• Alvarado Street Bakery Worker cooperativeOrganic sprouted-grain breads and bagels, baked in Petaluma and stocked in most natural grocers across the Bay, which makes it the easiest co-op purchase on this list.Petaluma
• Arizmendi Bakery Worker cooperativeSourdough, morning pastries and a daily vegetarian pizza, from five sister bakeries that are each an independent co-op.Five bakeries: 1268 Valencia St and 1331 9th Ave in San Francisco, 3265 Lakeshore Ave in Oakland, 4301 San Pablo Ave in Emeryville, 1002 4th St in San Rafael

Know a worker-owned or employee-owned business we missed? Tell us.