Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

September 26, 2016

Rockland's Rock City makes jump to employee ownership

Courtesy / Flickr, Larry Miller The front counter at Rock City Café in downtown Rockland. The company is making the transition to becoming employee-owned.

After 24 years of being in business, the Rockland-based Rock City Coffee Roasters and Rock City Café will be joining the growing ranks of Maine’s employee-owned companies.

Susanne Ward, owner of the café and roastery, told the Bangor Daily News that the decision to become an employee-owned cooperative came as she began to plot what will happen to the company when she decides to retire.

“My crew, the average age is probably 35 years old. That’s a fabulous age for an entrepreneur. They all have energy. They’re all committed to Rockland. It’s a great, great time. They are the future,” Ward told the BDN. “And for me, I’ve been doing this so long. It’s easier for me to get stuck in a mindset. I try to stay very open now. And I try to treat them like they are co-owners. I want them to have that sense of ownership.”

Photo: Flickr/Larry Miller

Read more

Rockland coffee roaster raising funds for new equipment to keep business open

Rockland coffee roaster reaches $80K goal

Coffee By Design earns Certified B sustainability recognition

Rockland's creative economy spurs a renaissance

Wright-Ryan adds ESOP to its recruitment toolbox

Mainebiz Employee Ownership 101

  • “So you’ve set up your ESOP. Now what?” That’s just the question Mainebiz’s Lori Valigra answers in a Biz Money column that delves into the changes that happen once a company decides to make the jump.
  • The Via Agency, Maine’s largest ad agency, became employee-owned earlier in the year. Find out why Chairman John Coleman says the switch will boost recruitment at the Portland-based firm.
  • One of the eight Maine companies that made Inc.’s “Fastest Growing” list, Landry/French Construction, made the transition to ESOP in May when its owners began plotting a future for the Freeport-based company.
  • Mainebiz had a one-on-one interview with Peter Warren, CEO of Warren Construction, about the Freeport-based company’s decision to go ESOP.
  • The nationally-known Johnny's Selected Seeds became owned by its approximately 210 workers in 2012.
  • Kennebec Technologies kicked off 2016 by becoming employee-owned. Read more about how owner Charles "Wick" Johnson made the decision.

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

Comments

Order a PDF