Taharka Brothers: Building Cooperative Economic Power for Young People
Growth in Baltimore’s cooperative ecosystem began to truly take off after BRED was able to connect with Seed Commons to become one of the first peer members in the national financial cooperative, bringing a much-needed source of non-extractive, worker coop-friendly capital to the table for local projects. This connection developed initially in response to the possibility of an exciting cooperative conversion: a local social enterprise ice cream manufacturer, Taharka Brothers, with a focus on employment for Black youth, had decided to take that mission to the next level by converting to worker-ownership and putting those young people in charge of the company’s future. The plan for this conversion had emerged in discussion with worker-owners at Red Emma’s, which, in part thanks to a big expansion in 2013 that had been partially financed by The Working World, was one of the city’s most visible worker cooperatives, and concrete proof that democratic workplaces could scale.
Now Taharka Brothers was hoping to take the jump into worker-ownership—but first it needed to get the business back on track, starting with raising the funds needed to fix the company’s ice cream truck in time to get it out on the streets for the summer of 2016. They approached The Working World, but the team there was both enthusiastic and apprehensive. Even with a small loan, how would it be possible to do the kind of hands-on, relationship-based support and diligence necessary for non-extractive lending to really work, while based 200 miles away in NYC? The Working World had already been thinking through these questions as part of the conversation that would ultimately give rise to Seed Commons as a national network, and the existing relationship through Red Emma’s with the nascent local worker-coop organization BRED provided an opportunity to test a possible answer.
That’s how in 2016, Taharka Brothers got the $15,000 they needed to get their truck running again, working with a project steward based at BRED to secure a loan financed by The Working World. This combination of non-extractive capital and local technical assistance proved to be exactly what Taharka Brothers needed as it transitioned to worker ownership, catalyzing a major phase of expansion. In 2019, two additional loans totaling $39,000 allowed Taharka Brothers to open two scoop shops inside one of Baltimore’s public markets and another popular food hall. In 2020, as COVID hit, demand for delivery of ice cream by the pint exploded, and BRED and Seed Commons were able to step in with a $66,000 loan to finance a bigger freezer and more advanced, higher capacity equipment. And in 2023, a series of loans totalling $685,000 enabled Taharka’s biggest scale up yet, financing the purchase of an additional freezer truck for deliveries, and a major expansion of their factory into an adjacent property, making it possible for them to move a key piece of the ice cream production process in house to unlock a significant bump in their margins. Taharka, owned by the young people who have driven it forward, now sells wholesale to groceries and restaurants across the Baltimore region and sells direct to customers locally via their bright pink ice cream truck and a total of four scoop shops across the city, as well as shipping 6-pint packages to customers across the country. Vince Green, a Taharka Brothers worker-owner, notes that BRED has been essential to this growth: “[they] are our best friends, they are lifesavers and with a lot of things, financial assistance but also just advice.”
Adapted from Seed Commons’ case study on BRED, which can be read in full here.
Learn more about Taharka Brothers’ journey to worker-ownership:
WBAL TV11: Taharka Bros. employees don’t just scoop, they own the company
The Washington Post: Amid food-industry upheaval, Baltimore businesses are handing workers the keys
The Real News Network: Taharka Bros: Ice cream with a side of worker ownership
BmoreArt: Taharka Brothers: It’s a Teamwork Thing
“I want to take a minute to shout out Taharka Brothers Ice Cream in Baltimore and to say thank you for the most delicious ice cream that I’ve ever had. So folks this is a business that sets a model for each and every one of us—they are celebrated for their unique social mission which is focused on creating an impactful, profitable business managed and operated by young adults from some of Baltimore’s most historically disenfranchised and neglected communities. This is a minority-owned Baltimore City based business and it’s also an employee-owned company. So these people are working every day to inspire change in Baltimore in the business model that they’ve actually created. And check this out—all of their employees after 18 months of employment are given the opportunity to become an owner of the company as well. Work, wages, and wealth. Our friends are taking these young people and giving them opportunity, and a chance to own a business. And that is something that we can all be proud of. Their work in Baltimore is an example of why the city is thriving because we support one another and we lift each other up.”
—Wes Moore, Governor of Maryland