Jan 10, 2023
In Part 2, we pick up our
conversation with Cody about Rainbow's bulk section. There's even
talk of "The Bulk Section at Rainbow" as a spinoff
podcast. Then we move on to the cheese department.
Gordon
Edgar is a name you should know if you even remotely
tolerate cheese. With Gordon at the helm, Rainbow
has won many, many awards for its cheese department. If you're
anything like me, you know exactly why this is true.
The rest of the podcast includes our
talk about how Cody worked at a health food store in Sacramento
before moving to San Francisco in 2006. In 2007, he started at
Rainbow in the package department. We go over what it takes for
Rainbow employees to become worker/owners as well as the
decision-making process at the 200-ish-employee store.
As with Other Avenues
and Arizmendi,
Rainbow offers its worker/owners flexible time-off and vacations
and generally a very positive work/life balance. Cody speaks to the
idea of Rainbow expanding to other towns, but says the feeling is
that communities should create the thing they need. To that end,
Rainbow has been known to seed-fund new co-ops.
We end with perhaps my favorite Cody
quote, one that I believe sums up our series on co-ops in San
Francisco: "Collective effort makes change."
Photography by Michelle Kilfeather