Support Rochesters New Vegan Co-Op Cafe

Serendipitously a group of seven queer, nonbinary, and transgender individuals applied to the same place of work, bringing us all together under the same exploitative conditions of the service industry during a pandemic. Within a short period of time we fostered camaraderie amongst each other through our collective experiences. We began organizing to make measurable and practical differences in our workplace. In the whirlwind of organizing efforts, we realized that pursuing a worker-owned cooperative is a viable solution to uplifting the working class within our current capitalist constraints. This is where we took a leap of faith to create Rochester's only fully worker-owned cooperative vegan café and bakery. Thus Anyone's Café and Bakery was conceived.

We have bold aspirations of a community space that provides affordable and sustainable vegan food to its patrons while nurturing a democratic, accepting, and safe workplace for marginalized people. A café that meets accessibility needs, provides mutual aid to the communities it serves, and cultivates a culture of care that hasn't been seen in the service industry yet. Through working alongside the amazing folks over at Cooperation Buffalo, these dreams are quickly coming to fruition.

Meet the Worker Owners:

We are a group of strong-willed, dedicated, and passionate friends and comrades with a drive to create this safe space to feed our community. Our combined efforts create a unique mix of individuals who are empowered and inspired to better ourselves and our community. We will be introducing individual worker-owners here on this campaign and through social media in the coming weeks.

Our Goals:

Anyone's Café and Bakery of course will serve delicious vegan food and coffee, but we have exciting ideas in store for this new venture. These facets of our café that set us apart include:

☺ A free fridge and pantry for excess bakery products from the café at the end of the day and for community contribution.

☻ Workshops and Community Discussion events held at the café with topics such as (but not limited to): BIPOC community support, LGBTQIA+ issues, Harm Reduction, Restorative Justice, Mechanics, Home Repair, Stop The Bleed/ Street Medic Courses, Mutual Aid organizing, the arts, etc.

☺ Work and meeting space for students and local leftist organizations.

☻ Working with Trillium Harm Reduction, NEXT Distro, and NYS Safe Sharps Collection Program for Narcan demonstrations and needle collection events as well as a sharps container provided on site.

☺Coordination with local free food distribution organizations.

☻ Path to Ownership for all workers.

☺ Hire formerly incarcerated, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and marginalized groups.

☻And so much more…

Our Needs:

With full transparency, creating a cooperative isn’t cheap! As seven working class, marginalized young adults, we need your support to fund this community project. Your donation is a seed for the future expansion and success of Anyone's Café & Bakery.

Goal Breakdown:

Original Member Contribution: $5,600 ($800/member)

Location Renovation Costs: $1,199.08 (without labor)

Startup Costs (incorporation, ServeSafe, and other fees): $2,200.92

Accessibility Lift: ~$6,000

Seed Commons Loan: $69,192.08 (not included in goal amount)

And don't forget to share to social media using the hashtags

#RecipeforJustice #AidAnyones #Community4Coops #Everyone4Anyones #AnyonesROCs

See you soon!