More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
There is something different about A Slice of New York Pizza in San Jose. And it goes beyond their award-winning pies.
It's about the people. In fact, everyone in the kitchen owns an equal slice of the business.
"We're a worker co-op, which means all the members and owners of the business work in the business," said the restaurant's founder Kirk Vartan. He started the business 17 years ago.
Six years ago, he turned it into a co-op by selling the business to his staff as a leveraged buyout. The employee-owners are now paying back a business loan with the profits generated by the company. And they all run the shop as a board of directors.
"We have 13 members right now, and every member has an equal vote in the governance and strategic decisions of our business," Vartan said.
"It's not just a job. It's our baby!" said Colin Webster. This was his first job when he turned 18 ten years ago. He now chairs the board.
"There's a stigma to working in the service industry, but I tell people, 'No! I'm a small business owner.' I make more money than some of my friends who went to college," Webster said.
It's not a new business model, but it is getting a lot more attention after the pandemic wiped out many small businesses.
A bill to create a co-op hub and help center in the Governor's office passed unanimously and became law in California this year.
"It creates stability in your community. The businesses are owned and operated by the people living in there," Vartan said.
Co-ops can also be a good option for the tens of thousands of business owners who want to retire.
"It takes care of the business owner. It pays them. It takes care of the employees. It gives them a wealth building opportunity. And it takes care of the community, because the community gets to keep that gem of a business, whatever that is," Vartan said.
Local customer Heather David called eating at A Slice of New York Pizza a "better experience."
"This model works. It works from a customer service standpoint in terms of employee retention, happier employees," she said.
But it wouldn't work unless the product is good.
"The proof it in the pizza," David said.
And the long line at dinnertime means the consumers and the workers are both getting what they want.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”