Red Bay Cafe
2327 Broadway [Map]
Oakland, CA 94612
Ph: (510) 517-5582
Hours: Mon-Thur, 7am-4:30pm; Fri, 7am-6pm; Sat, 9am-6pm; Sun, 10am-3pm
Facebook: Red Bay Coffee
Twitter: @redbaycoffee
Instagram: @redbaycoffee
Price range: Price range: $ (Coffee drinks $10 and under, 1lb Coffee $16-$19)

The Juice Bar Collective is small with a mighty output. (Shelby Pope)

The JBC Kale smoothie from the Juice Bar Collective in North Berkeley. (Shelby Pope)

The Juice Bar Collective, also in North Berkeley, doesn't seem to be the easiest place to work. It’s the size of a wealthy person’s walk-in closet, requiring staffers to work in very cozy proximity to their coworkers. And while they specialize in juices and smoothies--like a virtuous, viridescent JBC Kale--they also produce a menu of sandwiches, salads and hot dishes. This means that at any given moment, there’s a blender whirring while someone else is pulling a tray of mac and cheese out of the oven (a richer, spicier and less austere version than what you’d expect from such a '70s health food store environs), someone else is making sandwiches (don’t miss their turkey sandwiches, with thick slices of local and sustainable turkey breast) and someone else is calmly taking orders from a line of customers that often snakes out the door and down Vine Street.

The turkey sandwich from the Juice Bar Collective. (Shelby Pope)

While they specialize in juices and smoothies, the Juice Bar Collective also offers less virtuous fare, like their mac and cheese. (Shelby Pope)

But any employee annoyances are eased by the cooperative’s policy of regularly rotating employee duties, so no one is forced to be stuck in a role they don’t enjoy for too long. Plus, as we found out in our previous profile of the Juice Bar Collective, workers also get full health, vision, and dental benefits, as well as a month of vacation.

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