About the Event

Hosted by: Good Work Austin in partnership with Texas Rural Cooperative Center & Future Bakery Cooperative

What if the people who run a restaurant also owned it? Worker-owned cooperatives are one way to create more stable jobs, fairer workplaces, and stronger communities.

Whether you’re a food & beverage worker, owner, or entrepreneur, this panel will help you understand what co-ops are, how they work, and what it takes to either start a new co-op or transition an existing business from a traditional model into a cooperative one.

We’ll explore:

• Two main pathways: transitioning from a traditional model or starting fresh as a co-op

• The four key phases of building a cooperative

• Firsthand lessons from Future Bakery’s co-op journey

Bring your questions! This will be a practical, honest conversation about the opportunities and challenges of co-ops, with plenty of time for Q&A and networking. Light refreshments provided. 

Speakers & Hosts 

Nitza Cuevas (Moderator & Facilitator) – Program Director, Good Work Austin

Nitza leads GWA’s Healthy Workplaces programming and has worked closely with food & beverage businesses across Austin to build more equitable, sustainable workplaces.

Annelies Lottman (Presentor & Speaker) – Director of Texas Rural Cooperative Center

Annelies is a cooperative development expert with over 12 years of experience supporting cooperatives and agribusiness. She facilitates the development of new co-ops across sectors, with a focus on rural revitalization, food system resilience, governance, and economic diversification. She has assisted in the start-up of many Texas co-ops, including over two dozen in the Austin area. In addition to her technical skills, Ms. Lottmann prioritizes collaborative partnerships is committed to growing the capacity of co-op leaders to catalyze the development of a statewide co-op ecosystem. Ms. Lottmann holds a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law.  She is a member of the Association of Cooperative Educators and the Cooperative Professionals Guild.  When she’s not chatting about co-ops, you can find her in the garden or at the archery range.

Future Bakery Cooperative (Speakers) – Worker-Owners of Austin-based Worker-Owned Bakery

Future Bakery is a group of professional and home bakers with experience in artisan bread, laminated pastries, cake baking and decorating, vegan and gluten-free baking, donuts, frozen desserts, specialty coffee, and more. We have worked at retail and wholesale bakeries, restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, and food magazines. Together they also have
many years of experience in management, operations, training, recipe development, social media, payroll, and bookkeeping. Most importantly, they are all fiercely passionate about worker-owned cooperatives and building a better world.