How many restaurants celebrate 25 years in business?
Not many. In fact, most fail within the first five years.
What are the odds of survival for a restaurant that
features local food and democratic worker ownership – and
pays all the people who work there significantly higher wages
than the other restaurants in town? Whatever the odds, Casa
Nueva Restaurant, Cantina and Bodega, in Athens, OH, has
beaten them, earning a profit in every one of the past 25 years.
In their first year, they turned a profit on sales of $200,000 and
had sales well over $2.5 million in 2010.

At Casa’s 25th anniversary worker-owner reunion in
August, I talked with some of the 172 current and former
members. Speaking to Casa’s success over many years, one
former member explained, “There is so much future in what
we do.”

Is there a future in Casa’s business model of worker ownership
and local sourcing? Is this really an effective strategy for
economic development and job creation? And if so, how do
they do it?