Cheese Board Collective

worker cooperative

Cheese Board Collective

Industry Food

A worker cooperative bakery, cheese shop, and pizzeria with collective governance, durable local production, and shared workplace control. Cheese Board Collective scores well because ownership is comparatively aligned and governance has stronger accountability than peers, and no current penalty outweighs that structure.

Why this matters: Long-running worker co-ops can anchor the high end of the rubric.

Letter grade A Good High confidence (AI) Rubric gcd-rubric-v1

Final Score 60* A - Good

* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.

Base Material60
Bonus+0
Cap66No structure cap
After Cap60
Penalties0
b
Small business context

This entry is classified as a small business using observable scale signals: independent control, local or limited operations, and no evidence of public-company or national-chain scale. The small-business calibration keeps the ordinary rubric but reads evidence at person scale: living-wage pricing is not extraction by itself, while worker and contractor treatment, owner surplus, transparency, advertising pressure, dissent tolerance, and recourse matter more. Harm, toxicity, surveillance, labor, coercion, opacity, and hidden-parent penalties are not relaxed.

Applied cap: No structure cap

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Evaluation Overview

A - Good

The score turns mainly on Ownership; no penalty currently dominates the evaluation.

Strengths

  • Ownership10/10
  • Governance9/10
  • Extraction8/10

Penalties

  • No penalties applied in this version.

Evidence state

  • ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)
  • ThoroughnessPartial (AI)
  • Linked claims9
  • Direct axis claims9
  • Coverage9/9

Scoring Axes

Axis Score Why this score
Ownership
?
Control rights: shareholder-dominated at 0, worker cooperative control at 10.
10 / 10

The linked record identifies Cheese Board Collective as a worker-owned collective.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 207 scored entries below, 19 tied, 0 above on Ownership.

Linked evidence
  • Cheese Board Collective describes itself as a worker-owned collective. [1]
Governance
?
Binding decision authority: centralized control at 0, democratic stakeholder control at 10.
9 / 10

Cheese Board Collective's worker-owned collective identity supports direct democratic workplace governance rather than founder, family, or investor control.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 207 scored entries below, 17 tied, 2 above on Governance.

Linked evidence
  • context Cheese Board Collective describes itself as a worker-owned collective. [1]
  • Cheese Board Collective's worker-owned collective identity supports direct democratic workplace governance rather than founder, family, or investor control. [2]
Extraction
?
Surplus allocation, wage share, CEO pay ratio, margins, and structured extraction judgment.
8 / 10

The linked record identifies Cheese Board Collective as a worker-owned collective.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 173 scored entries below, 34 tied, 19 above on Extraction.

Linked evidence
  • context Cheese Board Collective describes itself as a worker-owned collective. [1]
  • The Cheese Board Collective states that the original owners sold the business to employees in 1971 and created a 100 percent worker-owned business. [3]
Labor Sovereignty
?
Worker power: coercive conditions at 0, co-determination or ownership at 7. Employee dissatisfaction matters only when source-backed evidence shows concrete limits on worker agency, such as coercive scheduling, retaliation, wage theft, harassment, unsafe conditions, suppression of worker voice, or extreme turnover.
7 / 7

The linked record identifies Cheese Board Collective as a worker-owned collective.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 205 scored entries below, 21 tied, 0 above on Labor Sovereignty.

Linked evidence
  • context Cheese Board Collective describes itself as a worker-owned collective. [1]
  • The Cheese Board Collective describes itself as worker owned and operated, with decisions made through shift or monthly meetings. [4]
Solidarity with the Unemployed
?
Treatment of exits and nonworkers, including severance, redeployment, and non-competes.
6 / 7

The linked record identifies Cheese Board Collective as a worker-owned collective.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 197 scored entries below, 22 tied, 7 above on Solidarity with the Unemployed.

Linked evidence
  • context Cheese Board Collective describes itself as a worker-owned collective. [1]
  • The Cheese Board Collective links worker ownership to a belief in democratic society, while the reviewed record is primarily about current worker-owners and customers. [5]
Loss-Bearing Fidelity
?
Willingness to absorb costs to preserve values, workers, users, and public obligations.
6 / 7

The linked record identifies Cheese Board Collective as a worker-owned collective.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 163 scored entries below, 54 tied, 9 above on Loss-Bearing Fidelity.

Linked evidence
  • context Cheese Board Collective describes itself as a worker-owned collective. [1]
  • The Cheese Board Collective's long-running worker ownership brings operational risk and benefit closer to bakery, cheese, and pizzeria workers. [6]
Market Conduct
?
Pricing fairness, switching costs, lock-in, and rent extraction.
4 / 5

Cheese Board Collective operates a bakery, cheese shop, and pizzeria as a long-running cooperative food business.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 106 scored entries below, 73 tied, 47 above on Market Conduct.

Linked evidence
  • context Cheese Board Collective operates a bakery, cheese shop, and pizzeria as a long-running cooperative food business. [7]
  • The Cheese Board Collective sells cheese, baked goods, and pizza through a worker-owned collective rather than a conventional restaurant or grocery model. [8]
Product Integrity
?
Preservation of quality rather than degradation for monetization.
5 / 5

Cheese Board Collective operates a bakery, cheese shop, and pizzeria as a long-running cooperative food business.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 134 scored entries below, 92 tied, 0 above on Product Integrity.

Linked evidence
  • Cheese Board Collective operates a bakery, cheese shop, and pizzeria as a long-running cooperative food business. [7]
Scale Integrity
?
Whether growth improves or degrades fairness and accountability.
5 / 5

Cheese Board Collective operates a bakery, cheese shop, and pizzeria as a long-running cooperative food business.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 191 scored entries below, 35 tied, 0 above on Scale Integrity.

Linked evidence
  • context Cheese Board Collective operates a bakery, cheese shop, and pizzeria as a long-running cooperative food business. [7]
  • The Cheese Board Collective has grown its products and Berkeley storefront presence while preserving worker-owned collective identity since 1971. [9]

Penalties

No penalties applied in this version.

Bonus Credits

No bonus credits applied in this version.

Confidence Basis

Confidence Basis

Confidence is computed from the evidence trail and review state, not typed into the profile by hand.

High 83/100

9 verified linked claims 9 direct axis claims 0 disputed claims 9/9 components covered

This confidence label measures the source-backed evidence trail. AI-scaffolded scores remain tentative until human review.

Claim confidence 18/20

9 verified linked claims

Source quality 12/18

Best source per verified claim, weighted by institutional reliability

Direct axis-specific claims 14/18

9 direct claims across 9 active components

Dispute load 12/12

0 disputed claims on this entity

Recency 10/10

Newest accepted timestamp: May 13, 2026

Reviewer status 7/12

Human-reviewed components score higher than AI scaffolding

Component coverage 10/10

9/9 evidence-bearing components have direct support

Evidence State

Evidence State

Profile stateAI draft / human-pending
VerificationUnverified
ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)
ThoroughnessPartial (AI)
Correction routeUse “Challenge this rating” for factual errors, missing counterevidence, source problems, or calculation mistakes.
Company responseCompany representatives can submit source-backed corrections; payment never changes scores or reviewer authority.

Claims and Sources

Claims are the evidence record. Each claim needs a source link, axis category, status, confidence level, and timestamp before it can support a score.

* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.
1Cheese Board Collective describes itself as a worker-owned collective.

Ownership Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

2Cheese Board Collective's worker-owned collective identity supports direct democratic workplace governance rather than founder, family, or investor control.

Governance Verified High confidence Human-reviewed

3The Cheese Board Collective states that the original owners sold the business to employees in 1971 and created a 100 percent worker-owned business.

Extraction Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

4The Cheese Board Collective describes itself as worker owned and operated, with decisions made through shift or monthly meetings.

Labor Sovereignty Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

5The Cheese Board Collective links worker ownership to a belief in democratic society, while the reviewed record is primarily about current worker-owners and customers.

Solidarity Unemployed Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

6The Cheese Board Collective's long-running worker ownership brings operational risk and benefit closer to bakery, cheese, and pizzeria workers.

Loss Bearing Fidelity Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

7Cheese Board Collective operates a bakery, cheese shop, and pizzeria as a long-running cooperative food business.

Product Integrity Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

8The Cheese Board Collective sells cheese, baked goods, and pizza through a worker-owned collective rather than a conventional restaurant or grocery model.

Market Conduct Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

9The Cheese Board Collective has grown its products and Berkeley storefront presence while preserving worker-owned collective identity since 1971.

Scale Integrity Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

Alternatives

Competitors

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How This Page Is Maintained

Evidence comes in through contributors, is checked by verifiers, and is synthesized by reviewers. Founder authority remains narrow and visible; scores recalculate when verified claims or the rubric change.

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Audit Log

Recent public changes for this company or group. The full audit log is part of the Transparency record.

ai-scaffolding toxic-products-assessment

Added tentative AI-generated Toxic Products penalty 0 and directory value for current toxic, addictive, pesticide, livestock, chemical, or consumer-safety product exposure.

ai-scaffolding ai-scaffolding-score

Added tentative AI-generated claim-backed score components for a previously listed under-review company or group.

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