Arizmendi Bakery


A Worker-Owned Cooperative

About Us!


Our story goes something like this:

Forty years ago, Berkeley's now-famous cooperative, the Cheeseboard, opened its doors. In 1997, inspired by their own success, they helped open another bakery based on cooperative principles. Arizmendi Oakland debuted that year on Lakeshore Avenue, named after the Basque labor organizer.

The endeavor was a hit, so what next?

They decided to open another bakery, this time in San Francisco. Once again the group, along with members of the Oakland store, graciously imparted their knowledge of cooperative business practices and shared secrets of their recipes.
In October of 2000, Arizmendi Bakery San Francisco was born. The Cheeseboard's gift to us has become our gift to the neighborhood.
...HOT BAGUETTES! Come get your hot baguettes!...


Our average day!

A few of us arrive at 4:00am. Betsy and James start rolling out the cheese rolls and knotting the brioche. Tanya's in the back mixing the scones, whole grain and cheese breads of the day. Edhi is shaping the sourdough loaves and baguettes, cutting english muffins and shaping the focaccia. A little proofing and muffin scooping later and we're baking. Finally, our gooey pecan rolls are flipped and everything's hot and ready on the shelves when we open at 7am. By this time Ryan is there and thinking about the pizza of the day. Tanya's now at the oven baking off the breads and sourdoughs. Around 9am the smells are changing from sweet to savory as fresh breads are loaded on the shelves.