About Us

The Food
Artisan baking at its finest

It is a point of pride with Arizmendi that we use only the finest natural ingredients. We source our vegetables, herbs and dairy from local organic producers whenever possible. In other words, we know where these ingredients come from. In fact, we even know the folks who produce the most basic and perhaps most important ingredient of all: those who mill the flour.

When it comes to baked goods, Arizmendi serves a range of temptations each day – all designed for maximum flavor and minimum regret. Whether you’re talking about our justifiably famous wolverines, cheese rolls, fresh daily breads or muffins and pastries, you are talking about artisan baking at its finest.

Meanwhile on the pizza side of the equation, we’re all about thin but robust fresh sourdough crusts topped with vegetables, herbs, cheese, oil, and occasionally even tomatoes or tomato sauce. Each day features a different pizza special. This means it could be something like roasted fresh fennel, red onions, smoked mozzarella and garlic oil one day, and shiitake, portobello and button mushrooms with a sesame-ginger-garlic-vinaigrette the next.

Our pizzas are always available fully cooked or in our “light-baked” format, where you can pick up one or more partially baked and finish it off in your oven at home.

Yum.

The Cheese Board developed many of the recipes we use. But we also go out of our way to utilize the culinary and creative talents of the bakery’s owners for new ones that suit a particular area or clientele.

And it goes without saying that all of our goods are baked fresh every day and contain no preservatives. In addition we serve Equator Coffees and Teas, an award-winning locally-owned roaster committed to quality, sustainability, and an empowered chain of supply.

The Bakers, Makers & Owners
Diversity and creativity in action

 Arizmendi is worker-owned and run, so right off the bat each day starts with the kind of commitment-in-the-kitchen that most bakeries can only dream of.  The bakers, makers and owners of Arizmendi Fourth Street are a diverse group. Many are food veterans with backgrounds that echo with the names of some of the Bay Area’s most well known and popular food outlets: LuLu's, Sutro's at the Cliff House, Momo’s, El Raigon, Noah’s Bagels, Emporio Rulli Larkspur, Bechet Boulangerie, and even … the Boboli company.

Our roster not only includes graduates of the California Culinary Academy and the Baking and Pastry program at Santa Rosa JC, but musicians, actors, set designers and visual artists. What brings them all together is their shared wish to be in charge of their own lives and put their diversity and creativity into action on a daily basis.

Regardless of their backgrounds, all our bakers, makers and owners have trained extensively in the Arizmendi method. That means the recipes and techniques to consistently produce artisan quality baked goods and pizzas are honed to perfection.

It’s called ownership.

The Arizmendi Mission
Collective action through the business of baking

Acting on the belief that beneficial change can come through collective action, we are a worker-owned and democratically-operated bakery cooperative.  We make decisions by consensus and we share all of the business tasks, responsibilities, benefits, and risks, while being accountable to each other.

We are committed to creating and fostering a nonhierarchical, culturally diverse, non-discriminatory work space based upon respect, understanding, mutuality, and cooperation.  We have a holistic approach to work and life and we strive to enhance our quality of living by supporting each other in our personal goals whenever possible.

We are committed to providing excellent service to our customers as well as fresh baked products using the highest quality ingredients possible. We intend to use, buy from, and actively support locally-based farmers, producers, and businesses.  We are dedicated to fair trade practices in our community and everywhere.  It is our goal to be engaged active members of our community in efforts that contribute to environmental, social and economic sustainability for all.  We aim to be a model worker-owner cooperative for collectives and worker-owned businesses everywhere.

The Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives

Why the Name Arizmendi?