Click here
for a page of digital shots of the Grill and the Copelands
taken in May, 03, here
for a look at Our Community Place, based on an early phase of the
development of the Little Grill Collective, and here
for another history from the official Collective's website at
www.littlegrillcollective.com.
JMU students, Sarah
Vikner, 21 and J.D. Lubenetski, 22, grab lunch
at The Little Grill on
Thursday. The popular restaurant
will soon be owned by a
seven-person partnership.
DN-R Photo by Holly Marcus
They're not socialists.
They're not capitalists.
Call them idealists or, perhaps,
adventurists.
The Little Grill restaurant in
downtown Harrisonburg will soon be an employee-owned company, or a
"collective."
"We're all getting older and we're
looking at our options and it comes down to whether we're going to
work for somebody else or work for ourselves, those are the only
options in America," says cook Chris Howdyshell. "We have
confidence. We're worker owners." Howdyshell is one of five
workers putting up $500 each to invest in the new Little
Grill.
By June 1, those five workers will
join current owners Ron and Melaine Copeland in an equal share of
the restaurant. Then all seven will have the same authority. Being
raised in Briery Branch, Howdyshell says, he always resisted
following the path of his father, who has been a maintenance
worker at the Coors plant.
"I didn't want to do what my dad
did. I wanted to do my own thing," Howdyshell says.
Now at 23, he's becoming a business
owner with his friends.
The New
Collective
Under the new articles of
incorporation, each owner is guaranteed an equal say in the
affairs of the business. Each will also share and equal risk. In a
collective, only workers can become owners &endash; but each owner
controls only one share and has power equal to all other
owner-workers. In a traditional stock-ownership corporation,
anyone with money can become an owner. And an owner shareholder
can buy multiple shares to acquire more power.
For this collective, the $500
investment will serve as the capital for growth or protection of
losses. The owners must decide at the end of each fiscal year what
to do with profits: how much for them, how much for the
company.
Ron Copeland says he's wanted to
turn the Little Grill into a worker-owned collective since he
bought it in 1992. He says the corporate culture at The Little
Grill lends itself to a collective structure because he's always
tried to allow his workers a voice in the business. This is
exemplified by a monthly employee meeting called an "honesty
group," where all employees are allowed to raise any workplace
issues. Open communication will be even more vital come June 1
when the workers become co-owners.
The New Owners
Joining Howdyshell in investing in
the new Little Grill are fellow workers Amie Hyatt, Jonathan
Schrag, Kendall Whiteway, and Jason Wagner.
"It's more risk than I've ever taken
but I'm excited," says 23-year-old Wagner. "If we don't get
business, I won't get paid. It could be very scary, but then it
could be more beautiful than anything I've ever
imagined."
Copeland says the new ownership
structure is already energizing the workers to pitch in with
expansion ideas, like catering or new menu options, as well as
inspiring them to pick up any of a variety of undone
tasks.
With the collective structure,
owners will decide their pay and compensation. So far, the only
way to measure an employee's value is the number of hours
worked.
"This is all a system that makes
sense to us," Whiteway says. "You get out of it what you put into
it, and you only get out of it what you put into it."
The Little Grill has 15 employees,
but not all decided to participate in becoming owners.
New owners can leave the collective
by selling their share back to the corporation for a return of
their $500 investment.
Collective
History
Collectives and co-ops grew in
Virginia in the early 1900s around the agriculture industry, then
matured with rural electric co-ops, says Mark Botkin, a
Harrisonburg attorney with Wharton, Aldhizer and
Weaver.
But collectives haven't grown in
popularity because they offer no more business advantage than a
limited liability company structure, Botkin says. And collectives
aren't attractive to banks and other investors.
"What they're putting together at
The Little Grill is a unique animal. It's a more egalitarian
concept they have, where everybody has an equal vote," Botkin
says. "I'll be curious to see if it will succeed."
by Andrew Scot Bolsinger,
Staff Writer for the Daily
News-Record
I was a zealot after I read, "The
Upside Down Kingdom" for the first time in college. I wanted to
live upside down in the world, just as the book suggested. By
following biblical concepts, the author suggested Americans can
live outside the consumerism and rabid accumulation of wealth as
Jesus suggested.
It was harder than it looked. Over
time, the typical pressures of a house in the 'burbs, credit
cards, job changes and car loans flipped me mostly right side up.
Some have been more successful. For over a decade, Ron Copeland
has used his small restaurant, The Little Grill, as a hub for
people of all color, creed and class. Every Monday for years, The
Grill has offered free food to "anyone in the world." Now,
Copeland is taking his Little Upside Down Grill to a whole new
level.
Worker-Owned
Grill
Barring unforeseen changes, on June
1 The Little Grill will open without Ron Copeland. He will start a
sabbatical away from the business, which will be turned into a
worker-owned company. Copeland is selling his interest in the
business to five faithful employees. After his break, Copeland and
his wife, Melanie, will return to the group as part of the
seven-person ownership team.
"It seems very sensible," Copeland
said. "Let the group establish itself and then come back into it
as a member of the group."
Relatively unknown locally, the
concept has proven successful in cooperatives around the country.
Copeland and his group of worker-owners have studied co-ops in
California, Ohio and Minnesota. One of the new owners, Jonathan
Shrag, says that after a couple of years of consideration, the
timing is right.
"It seemed important to have people
who already worked here and had an interest in the concept," Shrag
said. "We kind of looked each other in the eye and said, 'Are you
gonna be here for two years… are you?' "
Heeding The Call
For Copeland, the ownership change
is an opportunity to explore new passions while putting long-held
philosophies into motion. His faith is a motivating
factor.
"I'm just into it," he said of his
beliefs. "I can express some of the Christian ideas in terms of
social economics."
He will start seminary soon. The
future, he says, reluctantly adopting a Christian buzzword, is
about "a call" from God.
Shrag says the Copelands are an
integral part of the Grill. Their continued involvement is a
security blanket, both for the group and the
customers.
"Ron and Melanie are pretty
respected in the community and at The Grill. People are here
because of them."
Ron, Melaine, Emmet, Phoebe
and Rose
But Copeland downplays his
role.
"It's been a restaurant since the
'30s," Copeland says, "and it has its own style. I don't think of
The Little Grill that way."
Indeed, both he and others think of
The Grill as an entity with a personality that transcends the
people who run it. For many, it's the closest thing to a church,
or an Elks Lodge for that matter, that they will ever find. When
Copeland first started thinking about selling the restaurant, many
were concerned.
"We want to keep this in the
community," Shrag says simply.
So with the help of a unique
cooperative ownership plan, ambitious workers and an owner ready
to give the reigns to others, The Grill will continue. Both Shrag
and Copeland think it will move the restaurant
forward.
"I'm a little burned out," Copeland
said, "a little bit not being creative anymore. I honestly believe
it's the best solution for The Grill itself."
Not only will The Grill remain an
active part of the city's north side, but also it remains
steadfastly Upside Down like the people who run it.
Andrew Scot Bolsinger can
be reached at asbolsin@dnronline.com
