Worker-Owned Coffee Shops Show How Equal Pay And Shared Ownership Can Pay Off – CoffeeTalk

Worker-owned coffee shops are thriving in Greater Boston, offering equal pay and shared ownership to baristas and servers. Under the cooperative model, employees earn the same wage, are able to buy into business ownership, creating equal share in leadership and decision-making. This also means recommending sister cooperatives and other local worker-owned businesses to customers. Three worker-owned cooperative cafes in Greater Boston — Cafe Reynard in Malden, New Leaf Espresso in Somerville, and Circus Cooperative Cafe in Cambridge — operate as sibling businesses. The three operate as their own separate entities, but share workers, trading supplies, and exchange tips on best business practices.

Cafe Reynard in Malden is a trans-owned and unionized cooperative cafe that opened in February with a staff of three worker-owners and two other baristas. The cafe offers $20 per hour to its staff and chose the cooperative model because it is the “most just” and democratic way to run a business. Worker-owner Athena Jacobowitz Teatum said running a coop doesn’t “funnel money upwards to one person at the top of a power structure,” like traditional business structures often do.

New Leaf Espresso opened in December and opened in December, offering live music every Sunday. Owner-workers Eoin Jaquith and Andrew DeBenedictus, who worked together at 1369 Coffee House in Cambridge, discussed opening a coffee shop of their own last August as part of their five-year plan. However, the espresso bar space at Razors Barbershop became available in October and the two jumped at it.

Circus Cooperative Cafe in Cambridge took over the former Darwin’s cafe space on Putnam Avenue in September 2023 with its four worker-owners who were former employees of Darwin’s coffee chain. The cooperative model is popular for coffee businesses because of the endless demand for the product and the lower risk of entering the coffee business due to that. Under the worker-owned model, New Leaf established a rule that there are no authoritative roles, just experts on certain topics that other workers can turn to for information and support.

The cooperative model is becoming increasingly popular for cafes “because they are often already community-focused businesses” and “ethics is already there” with interest in fair-trade coffee sources.

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