MISSION

 

As a worker-owned and collectively-managed restaurant, we believe in the right of all people to have control over their lives and livelihoods. We honor our collective and individual autonomy by creating jobs that foster self-development and well-being; that affirm our worth and equality as workers. We strive to make good food accessible to more people and to grow strong relationships with local farmers, producers, and distributors. We seek to utilize our resources and space to support the greater Olympia community.

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HISTORY

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In the winter of 2012, a group of restaurant workers from around Olympia met with the intention of starting a worker-owned cooperative business. Many of these folks had then or previously worked at the Flaming Eggplant Cafe; experience of being employed at a collectively-managed restaurant provided a specific skill set for running a worker-owned food service business.

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Ideas for what the project might look like ranged from ideas such as providing sandwiches to local gas stations to having a pop-up nighttime cafe that rented out a storefront on weekends. Some- perhaps a lot- of the ideas were good. The best idea from the collective's first meeting in a certain wood-stove bearing living room was that we would name our group the Black Moon Collective.

 

This momentum culminated in our being offered the purchase of the New Moon Cafe, after then-owner Dylan Elkhart. The Black Moon Collective spent weeks analyzing the costs and benefits to this option, and decided it was the right thing to do on March 27th, 2013. We began owning and operating the restaurant exactly four months later. Our objective was to create a non-hierarchical working environment that was in itself a sustainable business.

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Today, the collective continues to run the New Moon Cooperative Cafe and continues its mission of democracy in the workplace and anti-oppression. We are constantly navigating, developing, and integrating sustainable business practices and constructive collective policies as often as is sensible.
 

Join us for breakfast or lunch, enjoy the friendly atmosphere,
and never hesitate to ask questions.