User:Esedward/Firestorm Cafe

Firestorm Books and Cafe is a radical infoshop and cafe located in Asheville, North Carolina, USA and run by a worker-owner collective. Named after the epynomynous natural phenomenon, the business operates with an eye on creating a self-sustained system. It opened in May, 2008 and features a coffee bar, free wireless internet, an extensive stock of books, and weekly events (such as weekly film screenings, political and economic teach-ins,local and travelling musicians and community events). In the past, Firestorm has hosted economist Thomas Greco, gay activist Wayne Besen, the Beehive collective, and benefits for the animal rights group, Mercy for Animals.

Firestorm Cafe is located at 48 Commerce Street in downtown Asheville, North Carolina.

History
Initially, eight worker-owners co-founded the cafe, with many of the anarchist and cooperative members of the community being heavily involved for the first few months of operation. In the first few months, the cafe established itself as a community space by hosting events such as the "ABC of Asheville," a series of workshops which focused on community, sustainability, and cooperativism. Kila Donovan and Evan Scott, two of the initial worker-owners and co-founders of the Asheville LETS chapter, brought the organization's meetings and orientations Firestorm as a means of focusing on local economics. Since then, the collective has seen several worker-owners come and go, with the current collective size being 6 worker-owners and 6 interns.

Worker-Ownership and Internship
Firestorm Cafe is owned and operated by the Firestorm Collective, a cooperative body that operates using formal consensus process, working groups and management teams.

The Cafe's business structure works against the existence of a non-laboring ownership class and the exploitation of labor by capital (aka profit). Therefore all worker-owners are paid an equal hourly rate and all workers are either owners or on an internship path toward ownership.