Alvarado Street Bakery
Encyclopedia
Alvarado Street Bakery is a worker-owned bakery
located in Petaluma, California
that produces certified organic whole grain
bread
s and bagel
s. Alvarado was featured in the 2009 Michael Moore
documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story
.
Alvarado is organized as a worker cooperative
and each employee receives one share in the cooperative. The shares grant each employees an equal vote on business matters, including employee benefits, salaries and the reinvestment of profits. As of 2009, more than half of the employees had been with the company for over 15 years and the average worker earned between $65,000 and $70,000 a year.
. By 1981 only two businesses still operated, Alvarado Street Bakery and Santa Rosa Community Market. Five of the eight workers of the bakery, including Bruce Gustin and Diana Thomas, separated from the market to found the Semper Virens Bakery Food Cooperative, Inc. which does business under the name of Alvarado Street Bakery.
The bakery's rapid growth and dedication to organic ingredients was partly responsible for its success within the organic food industry in the 1980s. Alvarado Street Bakery ships out over 40,000 loaves of bread a day that they bake in their solar-powered bakery, and is best known for the flour-less sprouted wheat breads that they produce.
Bakery
A bakery is an establishment which produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cakes, pastries and pies. Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.-See also:*Baker*Cake...
located in Petaluma, California
Petaluma, California
Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. In the 2010 Census the population was 57,941.Located in Petaluma is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. It was built beginning in 1836 by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, then Commandant of the San...
that produces certified organic whole grain
Whole grain
Whole grains are cereal grains that contain cereal germ, endosperm, and bran, in contrast to refined grains, which retain only the endosperm. Whole grains can generally be sprouted while refined grains generally will not sprout. Whole-meal products are made by grinding whole grains in order to make...
bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
s and bagel
Bagel
A bagel is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior...
s. Alvarado was featured in the 2009 Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story
Capitalism: A Love Story
Capitalism: A Love Story is a 2009 American documentary film directed, written by and starring Michael Moore. The film centers on the late-2000s financial crisis and the recovery stimulus, while putting forward an indictment of the current economic order in the United States and capitalism in general...
.
Alvarado is organized as a worker cooperative
Worker cooperative
A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and democratically managed by its worker-owners. This control may be exercised in a number of ways. A cooperative enterprise may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which...
and each employee receives one share in the cooperative. The shares grant each employees an equal vote on business matters, including employee benefits, salaries and the reinvestment of profits. As of 2009, more than half of the employees had been with the company for over 15 years and the average worker earned between $65,000 and $70,000 a year.
History
Alvarado Street Bakery began in 1977 as a part of an employee-owned non-profit business called the Red Clover Worker's Brigade, an umbrella organization for several naturals foods businesses in the San Francisco Bay AreaSan Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. By 1981 only two businesses still operated, Alvarado Street Bakery and Santa Rosa Community Market. Five of the eight workers of the bakery, including Bruce Gustin and Diana Thomas, separated from the market to found the Semper Virens Bakery Food Cooperative, Inc. which does business under the name of Alvarado Street Bakery.
The bakery's rapid growth and dedication to organic ingredients was partly responsible for its success within the organic food industry in the 1980s. Alvarado Street Bakery ships out over 40,000 loaves of bread a day that they bake in their solar-powered bakery, and is best known for the flour-less sprouted wheat breads that they produce.