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<\/a><\/p>\nEven if you\u2019ve never heard of Greyston Bakery<\/a>, chances are good that you have, in fact, eaten their baked goods. Ever had a scoop of Ben & Jerry\u2019s Chocolate Fudge Brownie, or spooned your way through a full pint of Half Baked? Congratulations! You\u2019ve had a little bit of Greyston in your belly. And it\u2019s no coincidence that both of those flavors made it to Ben & Jerry\u2019s top 10 list<\/a> last year\u2014Greyston\u2019s brownies, which you can now snag in four flavors<\/a> at UncommonGoods, are mind-blowingly tasty.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not all, though. Like UncommonGoods (and Ben & Jerry\u2019s), Greyston Bakery is a proud B Corp<\/a>, and it\u2019s New York state\u2019s first Benefit Corporation<\/a>, too. Founded by Zen Buddhist Roshi Bernie Glassman in 1982 in Yonkers, New York, Greyston is best known for its unique hiring model, dubbed Open Hiring\u2122<\/a>. \u201cOpen Hiring is simple,\u201d says Ariella Gastel, Greyston\u2019s VP of Marketing and Business Development: \u201cIf you want a job, come to the bakery, sign your name on a list, and wait to be called. No questions asked. No resume or interview needed.\u201d Designed to break down barriers for those seeking honest work, Greyston\u2019s policy provides opportunities to Yonkers locals who might otherwise encounter difficulty obtaining a job, whether that means they\u2019re single parents, have trouble speaking English, or once struggled with homelessness. \u201cIt is hard to imagine how many people want to work but can\u2019t because of barriers,\u201d says Ariella. \u201cOur mission is [to] create thriving communities through the practice and promotion of Open Hiring.\u201d<\/p>\n Though most of our real live visits are to artist\u2019s studios, we couldn\u2019t resist making the trip up to Yonkers to visit Greyston\u2019s facility ourselves. The promise of brownies, of course, was a draw, but we were equally excited to see Greyston\u2019s mission in action and to have the chance to meet Ariella and longtime team members Cece and Raymond. Armed with questions and juuust<\/em> enough space in our tummies for a brownie or two, we set off for Yonkers from Grand Central Station, a mere half hour from our final destination.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Before we boarded our train, though, we asked Ariella: Why bake brownies? What makes a kitchen the ideal place to do the work that Greyston does? \u201cOur founder, Roshi Bernie Glassman, needed more bakers to help grow a successful cake business in the early 1980s,\u201d she told us. (Greyston no longer bakes cakes, but that’s probably for the best, since we could have easily destroyed one in a single sitting.) \u201cOriginally he wanted a way for his Zen students to practice right livelihood and decided on a bakery as a good business. When he needed more bakers, he looked around the Bronx, and saw a huge issue with homelessness and poverty and decided to offer jobs to those in need, whether they had experience or not. This became the cornerstone of Open Hiring.\u201d<\/p>\n The work that Greyston does, however, extends beyond Open Hiring. They\u2019re responsible for a whole host of community initiatives, including workforce development courses<\/a>, some geared toward local youth, housing facilities<\/a> for formerly homeless people living with HIV\/AIDS, and community gardens<\/a>\u2014one of which we were able to see\u2014where fresh vegetables grow and leaders are made. Many of Greyston’s employees benefit from the bakery’s work in the community. Cece, for example\u2014a mom to two school-aged kids, both bakers in their own right\u2014has made use of Greyston’s childcare facility<\/a>, while Raymond previously took part in the Greyston Rangers Transitional Employment Program, working to keep Yonkers’ streets clean. “That was a good experience,” he notes.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, it’s clear that Greyston’s bakers are the true cornerstone of the operation. \u201cThere are so many success stories at Greyston,\u201d Ariella tells us. \u201cEveryone has come to Greyston for different reasons. It is a lot easier to stay home and let someone else take care of you. Or think it is easier to earn money in the streets. The people that work at Greyston are special. They wanted to make a difference in their lives and Greyston helped them. There are people at Greyston who worked in other places, did a great job, were promoted, but then when [their employers] discovered they had a record, [they] asked them to leave. Others that worked so hard so they could get a full-time job, but were passed over because they were not fluent in English. They needed a full-time job to support their family so they came to us. One of the most publicized success stories is Dion<\/a>, who sold drugs at age 14 and has now risen to become a training supervisor. He and others at the bakery are my inspiration.\u201d Now, let’s meet two of them.<\/p>\n I love brownies. My brother introduced me to Greyston, because he was a mixer here. He used to come, and he used to bring brownies home, and he used to be so full of chocolate\u2014and I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d And he\u2019s like, \u201cI\u2019m working at a bakery! I make brownies!\u201d And I said, \u201cBrownies\u2014and you didn\u2019t bring me home none?\u201d<\/p>\n I learned a lot with Greyston. … It\u2019s my first job. I\u2019ve been working here from the year 2000. … I went to school\u2014they paid for me to go to school. I have two beautiful kids here with Greyston, too. We used their childcare\u2014they have childcare, and the kids used to go there.<\/p>\n We\u2019re all like a family. That\u2019s another thing, too. People may come and go … but it\u2019s really a family. I look forward to coming to work sometimes. … I\u2019m a go-getter. I come in here and I pick up everybody\u2019s spirits.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I think it was around\u2026 2000-something, I put my name on the list. I got hired. At the time I was working for a moving company, and I\u2019ll never forget\u2014they called me, and they were like, \u201cDo you want to come and work for Greyston?\u201d And I said, \u201cThat\u2019s that brownie factory!\u201d So I said yeah, and I called up my job and I said, \u201cI quit\u2014I got a job at the bakery!\u201d<\/p>\n After a while, I started talking to people … and [thinking], \u201cThis is where I want to be.\u201d So as the year goes on, you start to open up to people\u2014where you come from, what you do\u2014like Cece says, it\u2019s like a family here. … I look at it like this: I get a lot of motivation from other people. … Regardless of what we do outside, what we do here, it\u2019s like a family. So I try to express that to my kids when I go home and they ask, \u201cHow was your day?\u201d I say, \u201cWell, I had a good day\u2026 with my second family.\u201d<\/p>\n What I like about Greyston\u2014it\u2019s like a brand new start for me. You come here and everything\u2019s out the window. No more felonies, no more misdemeanors. It\u2019s like you\u2019re brand new\u2014born again. But it\u2019s up to you to keep on with that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n By the time we left Greyston, bags full of brownies (and blondies) in hand, we were sure of one thing:\u00a0Everyone\u00a0<\/em>there believed fully in the bakery’s mission, no matter their role in the organization. Touring the bakery and seeing Open Hiring in action, we believed in it, too. After all, that kind of enthusiasm is tough to shake… and it sure is hard to be a pessimist when you’re surrounded by chocolaty goodness.<\/p>\n Still need convincing of Greyston’s goodness? We’ve got a video for that<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Greyston_051.jpg\")
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<\/p>\nMeet Cece\u2026<\/h5>\n
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<\/p>\n\u2026and Raymond.<\/h5>\n
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