Cooperative & community ownership models: 2026 COO learning series
Join the second Learning Community + Seattle Cooperator meetup learning series session of 2026. This year we are continuing to uplift cooperative ownership and models to strengthen worker & community self-determination, democratic collective governance and well-being!
Join COO & the Seattle Co-Operators Meetup group on March 23rd to learn about three worker-owned restaurant journeys (Watershed Pub & Kitchen, Pidgin Restaurant, Jude’s/Rosettes) – including financing structures for each businesses transition and growth! The event will start with short presentations from each of the speakers on their journey and relationship to employee ownership, followed by a round robin moderated discussion into the details of employee ownership transitions, financing, investing (preferred stock offering) and legal structures that have facilitated (and challenged) the journey to worker-ownership. Plus, additional time for Q&A and networking.
Speakers:
Ben Curran, Co-Owner/Operator of Watershed Pub & Kitchen
Ben Curran (he/him): My wife Kelsey, parents Liz and Craig, and I opened Watershed Pub & Kitchen in 2014. As a lifelong member of the service industry, empowering workers and honoring community have been our core values since the beginning. We originally became interested in the cooperative model as a form of employee ownership that would institutionalize these values, and while Kelsey and I intend to keep working at the Watershed, we see it as a way to make the business more sustainable in the long term, whoever is leading the way. We have high hopes of establishing a legacy of service and community in our pub and believe that by converting to a worker owned cooperative we'll be setting everyone involved up for success. Watershed Pub & Kitchen
Cheryl Markham, Peoples Community Law
Cheryl L. Markham J.D., MMCCU is the founding attorney of Peoples Community Law (PCL), a cooperative law practice in the Seattle Metro area, serving all of Washington State. PCL serves the legal and advocacy needs of cooperatives, social enterprises, and community members desiring to form cooperative structures, participate in building cooperative networks, and steward a cooperative economy that respects a healthy interconnection between people and the natural environment.
Cheryl began her journey as a cooperative enthusiast when her son was born, and she met a wonderful group of fellow parents in her community with whom she joined to open a community-based childcare co-op. The experience of this venture was incredibly fulfilling and life changing. Prior to opening Peoples Community Law in 2022, Cheryl was a legal aid attorney providing vital legal services to communities and served as a Senior Policy Advisor for King County regional government where she collaborated with an interdepartmental staff team and community-based partners to create innovative new policies and programs for equitable community development.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cherylmarkham22peoplescommunitylaw
Mark Paschal has been working in bars and restaurants since 2005, when he started at a graduate student bar. After taking some time off to pursue a Ph. D, he discovered that people are often more interested in talking about what matters to them while holding a drink than while attending classroom lectures. He has dedicated himself to tending bars (in the same sense as tending a garden) ever since and can't imagine fulfillment in any other occupation. Twined to the idea that tending a bar has community value is the belief that workplaces should be sites of democratic activity. Mark helped Jude's transition to a worker-owned operation in 2021 and we've been learning what that means ever since!
Nathan Britton
Nathan Britton has more than 20 years of professional experience in the culinary, nonprofit and communications fields. He got his start doing nonprofit grassroots advocacy. On Capitol Hill he worked as a speechwriter and press secretary, and then used his experience to train nonprofits in effective political communication. Changing fields, he went to culinary school. After graduating at the top of his class from the Culinary Institute of America and working in some of the best restaurants in Seattle and the SF Bay Area, he is now focused on how to build more restaurants that are owned by their employees and how to mobilize capital to make that happen. A devoted fan of English football, Nathan lives in Seattle with his wife, their daughter Tabitha and their cats, Frank and Miles.
Zachary Pacleb, Pidgin Cooperative
Zachary Pacleb is one of the head Chefs, the Culinary Operations Manager and a founding member of Pidgin Cooperative (formerly Brothers and Co.). He is also a multimedia visual artist and amatuer writer whose work is commonly themed or documents his time in the food industry. He was born and raised in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains near Bothell, WA and spent many a summer with family on O'ahu during his childhood. He currently resides on Occupied Duwamish Land, also known as the West Woodland neighborhood of Seattle, WA. Pidgin Cooperative
Please register so we have an accurate count for food and space constraints! If you have questions or interest in the topics/speakers for this series – please let us know in the registration form!