Why Close Your Business on Cesar Chavez Day?

Photo from the Wikimedia Commons, Joel LevineWorker-owned Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco was closed on March 30th for Cesar Chavez Day.  I knew about this because I follow them on Twitter, and thought it was a nice, if quixotic, gesture.  But Rainbow cheesemonger Gordon Edgar (author of Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge) explained the significance in a recent (short) post on his blog, and I really liked what he said:

"It’s important to remember, as a 'foodie revolution' takes place, who does the majority of the hard work, at least in states like California, to bring food to the table."

A few years back, when I worked at Seward Co-op in their previous location, we had a customer call us up on Easter to find out if we were open.  Then he berated the customer service person as being godless or unchristian or something to that effect because we didn't close for Easter.  Some people care why you close your business.

So nice job, Rainbow Grocery!