Our Humble Beginning:
The Bread Collective
In late summer of 2004, a rumor that the only bread in town worth eating was about to disappear. Michael Henderson of Home Spirit Bakery planned on heading to California to complete his training and become an ordained Episcopalian minister. Simultaneously, a group of folks with connections at the Astoria Cooperative were talking about worker collectives.
The combination of these two things proved fertile ground for the creation of the Bread Collective. A few determined people came together to keep baking bread: Joe Garrison, Iris Sullivan, Martin Daire, Sean McMullin, Mary Nally, Sam Daire and Kris Daehler. Arrangements were made to keep baking bread from the old Victorian house the Home Spirit Bakery had called home for so long. This original collective worked incredibly hard to keep baking bread and set aside profits to open a retail space in the future.
Eventually, the collective found the perfect place - the Fort George Building. Ocean Crest car dealership decided to vacate their spot in the building, leaving a beautiful space for the collective to grow. However, the space had been neglected for quite some time, and it would take a massive renovation project to make it what it is now.
The collective worked tirelessly over the next few years. After many ups and downs, the Blue Scorcher finally opened the last weekend of September in 2006. The first year was hard as the collective figured out how to operate as a small business, expanded to pastry and food as well as bread, and welcomed their first paid workers.
The Scorcher’s reputation as a business with integrity - and delicious, organic, local food - grew! Our dedicated customer base soon included the travelers and tourists coming through Astoria periodically. Now, we have several people who have to stop by the Scorcher on their way in or out of town!
Beginning in 2009, Joe and Iris wanted more workers interested in ownership. They wanted to build a true collective in which owners were workers first. After a few years, they were able to open ownership to dedicated workers who wanted to help the business grow even more. They had finally established their cooperative by 2011.
By 2012, they finished all the necessary steps to transfer the Blue Scorcher from The Bread Collective to the Scorcher Artisan Cooperative. It began as a 10 member, worker-owned cooperative managing the Blue Scorcher Bakery & Cafe.
As of 2024, we have grown to an organization of over 40 workers - 6 being worker-owners - and growing!