https://www.bobsredmill.com/employee-owned Certainly many non-coop businesses have ESOPs but this says the goal is to transition to 100% employee-owned via the ESOP (rather than the typical single or low double digit employee grant pool). I recall reading that when Bob was dying he decided or had it in his will to transition his ownership fully to the employees.

edit: "100% employee owned / That happy day came in April 30th of 2020: as of our 10th anniversary, Bob’s Red Mill is now 100% employee owned, one of only about 6,000 businesses in the country to achieve this incredible feat."

Equal Exchange is a worker-owned co-op: https://equalexchange.coop their management leadership positions are rotating (across workers) and have compensation multiplier caps. The coffee at least is quite affordable compared with other specialty brands.

Thanks to zoning laws in Japan, whereby practically anyone is able to start a retail business with minimal capital and permitting requirements, there are many shops and food-related businesses that are worker-owned. Many are also highly affordable can be cheaper than chains or convenience options (apart from the very cheapest of chains).

'worker-owned' and 'worker cooperative' are not the same thing.

Re: small busineses... Many family businesses are 'worker-owned' but they are not 'worker cooperatives' because either:

- there's only a single worker, or

- the decisions are generally made by a single person (e.g. 'head of family')

Re: Bob's Red Mill... it has a board and a CEO etc. It doesn't seem to be a 'worker cooperative'.