P. Terry’s Puts Employee Ownership Trusts On The Menu
The Ownership Economy Newsletter, Vol. 149
👋 Welcome Back (From Michael)
Happy Saturday, everyone. I headed into this week thinking I’d talk about the World Cup, then two BIG Texas stories won out.
First, the Stakehold team just got bigger! Mark Hand welcomed his little bundle of joy —Mr. John Clayton Hand—into the world earlier this week. Big congrats to Mom, Dad, and the whole family!🎉🎉🎉
Then, only days later, the EO universe delivered another story that I suspect made Dr. Hand smile.
P. Terry’s, a beloved restaurant chain in Central Texas, transitioned to employee ownership using an employee ownership trust. With 1,800 employees across 38 locations, it is now one of the largest EOTs in the US. The chain also established a profit-sharing plan that will distribute 5% of the company’s operating income, with the goal of increasing it to 20%. All while retaining its commitment to an affordable menu—as of today, a scratch-made burger costs $3.10.
Commenting on the transition, co-founders Patrick and Kathy Terry said:
From the beginning, we believed that taking care of people and building a great business weren’t competing ideas… This transition is the most honest expression of that belief we’ve ever made. P. Terry’s always belonged to the people who show up every day. Now, it’s official.”
Here’s to the Hands, the Terrys, and everyone building a future worth sharing!
🥃 Top Shelf News
New Jersey’s Senate Economic Growth Committee advanced a bill to create an Employee Ownership Transition Program
Sen. Zwicker, sponsor of the bill, wrote an op-ed on why NJ needs more employee ownership
The Predistribution Initiative launched its AI Lab with a three-paper series on broadening equity ownership as the fix for our AI-powered K-shaped economy
Elias Crim published a new book, Social Cooperatives: How local communities can reclaim control of social care
👉 In This Issue
Events + Reflections
Employee Ownership, ESOPs, EOTs, & Worker co-ops
The Ownership Economy, Community-owned real estate, & Member-owned finance
Academic News
📅 Events + Reflections
To see a comprehensive list of events, go to our main Events page.
This Week
June 15: OEOC and NCEO’s Is an ESOP right for you? in Columbus, OH begins
June 16: NCEO’s New [ESOP] Manager Workshop in Denver, CO begins
ESCA’s Midwestern Regional Policy Seminar in Chicago begins
First day of the DiO 2026 Conference in Fontainebleau, France
Food Co-op Initiative and Start.coop host a workshop on rural food co-op feasibility and community organizing
Ownership Capital Lab hosts a virtual webinar: EO Fund Spotlight: Catalytic capital for employee ownership
June 18: Common Trust hosts virtual Owners Session: Employee Ownership as an Operating Model
June 19: UK EO Day in Birmingham
Including Scott Bader’s webinar, Combining stewardship and entrepreneurship, celebrating 75 years of employee ownership
Reflections
EOX reflects on its presence at the 2026 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum
Employee Ownership
🎉 Darcy Valent joins Ownership Capital Lab as Development & Philanthropic Partnerships Lead and reflects on her work ahead. Congrats!
UMass Amherst’s Building Solidarity Economies program won a 2026 Distinguished Community Engagement Award (h/t ICA Group)
Mike Harris outlines the growth of employee ownership from 2019-23 and what it means for the California Central Coast
📈 Employee Stock Ownership Plans
Newsweek’s 2026 Greatest Workplaces list includes ten ESOP companies
Massachusetts-based Surety Bond Professionals becomes an ESOP
Forvis Mazars outlines the five ESOP audit considerations for leaders
ESCA highlights employee-owned businesses involved in the FIFA World Cup
🎙️ ESOP Radio hosts discuss encouraging EO developments coming out of Washington
🏛️Employee Ownership Trusts
Common Trust published a short case study on how Clegg Auto’s transition led to business growth
🎙️CEO Kevin Clegg also speaks about the transition on The Steward Chair
📱 Vermont-based social media company Front Porch Forum intends to sell the company to its employees using an EOT
🤝 Worker Cooperatives
Resilience re-published an article from Josh Davis, arguing that for the cooperative movement to thrive, open debate is key (h/t ICA Group)
Sean Geobey argued that the best cooperatives don’t get governance right at founding — they build structures flexible enough to respond to changes
Cooperatives Europe published its annual report for 2025-26
NCBA applications for its ‘Lightning Talks’ at IMPACT 26 are due on July 17th
🤖🎙️ We recently found what we believe to be a completely AI-generated podcast about co-ops. Weird.
The Ownership Economy
🎙️ Aaron Tanaka argues on the Luce Change Podcast that America’s political crisis is actually an ownership crisis at its root
Well-known economist Mariana Mazzucato reflects on the origina of her new book, The Common Good Economy; US release date is September 11th
🏘️ Community-owned Real Estate
East New York Community Land Trust purchased its first commercial property, marking a milestone for CLT-owned commercial real estate
Ottawa Community Land Trust acquires its third property intended to protect affordable housing
Green Bay’s community land trust could receive its first 11 donated homes (Paywalled)
Member-owned Finance
Nationwide Building Society distributed £440 to 4.4 million of members this week, while its CEO pay nearly doubled to £4.67m, raising questions about its current member governance arrangements
📚 Academic News
Ian Macfarlane writes on what social and economic factors support 100% ESOP adoption
Kovačević et al. proposed a dual-model path to property-owning democracy, using Serbia’s succession crisis as a test case
Omar Mehdi surveyed employee share ownership practices across the US, UK and France, finding that while the term is universal, the models vary considerably
Kim and Morales found that worker cooperatives build collective resilience among immigrant domestic workers
Shin and Park discover that employee ownership deters managers from withholding bad news, reducing stock price crash risk
Véronique Dutraive argued that Dewey’s pragmatic democracy enriches Hayek’s market liberalism by embedding ethics and institutional learning into social coordination
Has anyone ever done an EOT for transportation business or a merger to an EOT?
Note that the section on ESOP news is mistakenly labeled: "Employee Stock Option Plans".