December marked a major milestone for your cooperative: new inductees to the Workers’ Assembly! As you may know, the day-to-day operations of Black Star are the responsibility of our Workers’ Assembly, or WA. The WA is made up of all of the workers of the co-op, which is divided into two categories: Voting Body Members of the Workers’ Assembly, and Apprentices. Our Apprentices have a year to fulfill all of their training requirements so they can become fully vetted members of the WA. Still with me?

We are proud to announce that three members of our opening crew fulfilled all their requirements, and have been approved for inclusion to the Voting Body of the Worker’s Assembly! Chris Booth (Pub), Rie Fielden (Kitchen), and Colette Hanna (Kitchen) are our newest members and we are so thankful to them for kicking so much ass over the past year. They really have helped to make this year successful; their effort and sacrifice has not gone unnoticed!

If you see them around the pub, congratulate them on this accomplishment. We have several more worker’s who will be coming up on their year anniversary over the coming months, so stay tuned!

Like many restaurants, retail stores, or groceries, Black Star is a bit like a theater production—the patron doesn’t get to see everything that goes into getting that plate of food or that pulled pint, or even how our decisions are made, or who washes the dishes. That’s part of the joy of the experience as a patron, or audience member. The product you want is an end result, but maybe you want to know more. Maybe you have a yearning to see the behind-the-scenes details of our day to day, and your special features DVDs are more worn out than your main attractions.

Here at the Co-op, we do it all.

For starters, we control all of our sourcing, ensuring that we are serving top quality product to our members at a price that works for our business and our vision. This ripples through all production at Black Star both, in the kitchen and in the brewery. We want you to know that you can trust us for the highest quality at a reasonable price.

Secondly, we do all the work. The workers of Black Star Co-op are responsible for all the day to day operations of the business. And if you’ve seen us on a busy night, you know that we are doing all the dishes, running and bussing all the tables and preparing all your food and pints to order. Seems normal enough right? But wait, did I say dishes? Yes. Unlike other establishments in the industry, Black Star doesn’t have a dedicated dishwasher. Instead, the kitchen washes all its sauté pans during service, and the pub team washes all the service dishes and all of the pints. This may not be as efficient as the dominant paradigm, but since we endeavor to pay a fair, living wage and have a workplace that is based on democratic control, the dirty work falls on us, not someone who is making less than everyone else and arguably working much harder.

That said, if you’ve ever worked at a busy restaurant, stop and reflect about what that experience would have been like if you were also responsible for dishes during service. It makes me pretty proud of what we do here, and that we make it work in a challenging way that results in a little bit more equality in the workplace than many are used to.

The typical restaurant structure has a GM, kitchen manager or chef, bar manager, maybe a head server. At any point on a given day, any member of our Workers’ Assembly may be filling one or more of these roles. Making team decisions and planning events, or just making an on-the-fly judgment call is part of our daily work. It’s challenging for those who have never been in a position of authority at first, but in the end it is an empowering aspect of our work.

This is how we make the sausage. Coming from a more hierarchical workplace gives you the skills needed to succeed in our worker-self managed business, but seeing the big picture, and letting the vision of the membership guide you, lets you excel. It’s not just about plating food and pulling pints; it’s about fulfilling the needs and wants of our membership, our audience. We want to thank you for a year of serving you, and we ensure that everyday when that curtain pulls back we are ready to give you the show that you deserve.

We recently switched from the Water Oak Farms goat ice cream, to making our own in house, seasonal ice creams and sorbets. Did you know that mangoes could grow in South Texas? How about mango sorbet to beat the heat on our patio? It’s pretty rad. With the bounty of the summer months in full effect, we will be able to utilize our seasonal ingredients at the peak of their freshness and flavor. Just a reminder, peaches, berries, melons and herbs are highly prolific in the summer months here in Texas, and they are even better in when blended with cream and sugar and turned into delicious frozen delights. We’ll be using these for our beer floats, too, as well as to pair with our house made desserts. Ask the bartenders what flavors are available, and enjoy.

The Co-op grew by 48 new members during the first week of our Spring Membership Drive! That’s 48 down, 52 to go.

As a reminder, we set a goal to get 100 new member-owners this month and aim to have 2,000 members by the time we the brewpub opens.  For the month of March, each new member gets a Black Star Co-op mug and bottle-opener keychain. Let’s keep the momentum going by telling our friends, family, and loved ones to join the Co-op today!

Last week the Workers’ Assembly hosted the first Investor Q&A Happy Hour at our development office. A little more than twenty people came by to hear more about our offering of Member-Investor Shares with a some new members joining the Co-op and some members coming by to sign subscription agreements. The night was a big success, and we look forward to hosting weekly Investor Q&A Happy Hours on Thursday evening from 5-7pm while we raise the funds necessary to complete the build-out of our brewpub.

This week we mailed out the prospectus containing the terms and disclosures of the  current offering of Member Investor Shares. Look for it in your mailbox and expect a call from one of the members of the Workers’ Assembly some time soon. As previously mentioned, we are hosting weekly Investor Q&A Happy Hours on Thursday evenings from 5-7 p.m. in the development office beginning March 11th. This is a time to hear more about the offering, ask questions, and sign contracts.

We are also hosting a Green Building Investment Forum on Saturday, March 6 from 2-4 in the development office. This meeting is specifically aimed at getting involvement from the environmental community and will focus on our goal of achieving LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Many guest in attendance will be unfamiliar with Black Star, so if you choose to attend this event, please be aware we’ll also cover the basic Co-op membership information you already know.

Again, we aim to raise $375,000 to cover the costs of construction and start-up funds. If you are able, this is the time to make a larger contribution to your Co-op. The sooner the funds are raised, the sooner we can be enjoying a tasty beverage in our new brewpub!