Featured Small Business: Arizmendi Bakery

Photo Credit: Jaime Geraldo via Yelp

In an era where we are starting to learn about how many strange things lurk in factory-made bread, we're fortunate to have places like Arizmendi's turning good old flour, water and salt into pure culinary magic every single day. The moment you step inside, you know you've found someplace special. Aside from the absolutely mouthwatering fresh breads, pastries, and pizzas, here are some reasons that you can feel fantastic about supporting this local gem: 

As a worker-owned and operated co-op, their business model is focused on creating a democratic workplace. 

In the words of The Cheeseboard Collective, the OG bakery and pizzeria that helped Arizmendi's get off the ground in the '90s: 

"A worker cooperative is an enterprise that produces goods, distributes goods and/or provides services and is owned and controlled by its worker-owners. Ownership of a worker cooperative is vested solely with the worker-owners on an equal basis. Worker-owners control the resources of the cooperative and the work process." - from The Cheeseboard website

Respect, equity, and sustainability in the workplace are prioritized and fostered alongside the fantastic food. 

Their success radiates out to all kinds of other small businesses in SF and the greater Bay Area. 

For example, the creative flavors of Arizmendi's Gochujang Sourdough Bread come courtesy of gochujang from Mission-based Queens. Queens makes specialty Korean pantry items using ingredients thoughtfully sourced from… you guessed it… Norcal farmers and producers like Star Route Farms in Bolinas and Four Star Seafood and Provisions in SF. It's a win for the small business owners as well as the environment when ingredients don't have to travel far to make it to our plate. 

How to support them

Supporting Arizmendi's is about as easy as it gets. Whether it's the just-sweet-enough Cherry Corn Scones, the indulgent sugar-bomb Pecan Rolls, or the savory, fresh from the oven daily pizza, the toughest job is choosing what to order. 

Arizmendi's has shops in the Inner Sunset and the Mission, as well as Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, and San Rafael. They are part of a larger group of worker-owned local businesses that also brings you Cheeseboard's famous and addictive Green Sauce, which the Chronicle recently profiled. 

You can also show the love by voting for them for Best of the Bay!

Do YOU have a small business? We want to profile it!

Let us help you get the word out about your Bay Area business. You already know it takes passion, an insane amount of work, AND good cheerleaders around you in order to make a business succeed. 

If you'd like more people to know about what you're up to, contact us and let's chat! 

We'd love to get our megaphones out and help share the good word.