West Philly is up in arms over Mariposa Food Co-op and Four Worlds Bakery’s sudden breakup

West Philly’s Four Worlds Bakery has evolved from a basement bakery to a neighborhood institution over its 17-year history, known for making some of the best bagels in the city. And until this week, you could score its sourdough bagels, baguettes, and bread at Mariposa Food Co-op, another West Philly institution.

That changed abruptly on Tuesday, when Mariposa severed ties with Four Worlds with just one day’s notice, according to an announcement Four Worlds posted on its Facebook page Wednesday morning.

“For 15 years we have supplied [Mariposa] with bagels, baguettes and our classic sourdough breads. Beginning today, they have decided to move on from us but we are still baking and have a full staff to support,” the post read. “It’s a big blow to us — 60-100 bagels a day plus 12 baguettes and bread loaves; and we were given 1 day notice about the change with no reason given. We need your support now more than ever.”

Customers in West Philly and beyond responded with support (the bakery sold out that afternoon) and outrage.

“Regardless of the reason, the lack of notice is completely unprofessional and unacceptable,” one commenter wrote. “This just means that I’ll be going to Mariposa less and dropping by Four Worlds Bakery a lot more,” wrote another. “I knew this would happen when Mariposa moved,” another wrote, alluding to the co-op’s 2011 move to 4824 Baltimore Ave., a space five times larger than its original home at 4726 Baltimore Ave. Yet another posted a screenshot of Mariposa’s bylaws, the section that delineates how members can withdraw their equity. “Jussayin’,” they wrote.

On Thursday, Mariposa — whose internal and external tensions and declining sales spilled over into the public earlier this year — responded with a post of its own.

“Hi Mariposa Community! As some of you may have heard, we have decided to end our 12+ year working relationship with Four Worlds Bakery. Throughout our time working together, we have had conversations around quality issues and other business concerns. We have tried to find solutions that work for both parties, but unfortunately the time has come to part ways,” it read. “Though it is not easy to end such a long-standing partnership, we do so knowing it is the best decision for our staff and the co-op and we wish nothing but the best for Four Worlds Bakery.”

The post was met with further vitriol. “This statement is totally reasonable and fair. What is neither (and frankly wildly unprofessional) is giving them no notice,” one commented. “How exactly is changing the bagels sold the best decision for staff?” another asked. “I’ll be canceling my membership,” said another.

Mariposa still carries local bread from Merzbachers and Metropolitan Bakery, and recently added LeBus bread to its lineup, according to Mariposa general manager and co-op executive officer Aj Hess. They said in an email that the feedback Mariposa has received following the decision has been “negative to neutral” among member-owners and ”neutral to positive” among staff.

Reached on Thursday afternoon, Four Worlds owner Michael Dolich elaborated on the situation. The bakery had sent some overproofed baguettes to Mariposa over the weekend. “They had a legit issue with the baguettes,” Dolich said. “They should never have been delivered. It was a real mess-up on our part, and we own that.”

Dolich received an email from a Mariposa staffer on Monday asking for a credit for the weekend’s baguettes, which were harder than the co-op would like to sell. (The Inquirer reviewed the email thread.) The staffer also asked to remove the baguettes from future orders. “We can longer sell them due to inconsistency of quality unfortunately,” the email read.

Dolich apologized in a reply, explaining he was out of town, and agreed to give them the credit. He said he would bake the next day’s baguettes (which were already prepped) himself and that he’d remove them from future orders.

A little over an hour later, Dolich received a response. “After tomorrow’s order we would like to go ahead and cancel our standing orders please. It has been a pleasure working with you and hopefully we can work together again in the future. Sorry for the short notice and thank you,” it read. The next day, they followed up asking Dolich to return his key to Mariposa.

Dolich acknowledged that, every so often, Four Worlds’ baguettes have been overproofed or toastier than the co-op desired. “We bake things a little bit more dark than they like it sometimes, but that’s what our customers want,” Dolich said. “Probably every two or three weeks, I’ll get an email from them saying they don’t like this [or that]. But it’s normal. Not everything’s perfect every time.”

Still, he thinks there must have been more to the decision than bad baguettes. He speculated that the co-op might have been frustrated that bread didn’t sell, but admitted he didn’t know for sure. Though he was a longtime Mariposa member (he withdrew his equity after this incident) and used to serve on its board, his personal relationships there have lapsed, especially post-pandemic.

“Nobody really reached out to me. I’ve never really talked to anybody on the phone over there about any of these issues,” he said, adding he hadn’t taken the initiative either. “I gotta own it too. When you don’t communicate with people, this is what happens.”

On Friday, CEO Hess indicated the decision was a long time coming. “The discussion around discontinuing our relationship with Four Worlds has come up several times over the years, by several staff members,” they wrote. “Ultimately, the current buyer, based on input from other team members, direct experience, and with my full support, made the decision.”

Asked if one day’s notice is standard in the grocery industry, Hess said, “It is standard in most business partnerships to discontinue a working relationship when it is no longer mutually beneficial. More often than not, there is no advanced notice given. However, having conversations to improve the relationship should take place prior to ending the relationship, which is the case in this situation.”

Dolich took to Facebook because he felt backed into a corner. “I couldn’t just let 15 years of customers … all go and not try to tell people what happened and tell people where they could buy my stuff,” he said. He didn’t intend to stir up resentment toward the co-op but isn’t surprised at the outcome.

“This was a really dry forest just waiting to ignite,” he said. “It’s easy to focus on this whole thing about the bakery. There’s a lot more going on underneath the surface.”

As a co-op, Mariposa is member-owned and partially governed by an elected board of delegates which “oversees and evaluates management, reports on the state of the co-op, oversees bylaws changes, and approves the budget,” according to its website. That said, “the co-op board of delegates has nothing to do with store operations,” clarified board secretary Eliot Gilkeson.

Gilkeson added that a group of Mariposa board liaisons and member-owners are organizing a special meeting for “co-op community members (current owners, past owners, potential new owners) to discuss concerns surrounding the co-op in a cooperative way and ideate potential solutions for moving forward.”

The event will be held Wednesday, Oct. 4, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at a location to be determined. Input is welcome beforehand.

On Thursday, Dolich was turning over the situation in his mind as he prepped the next day’s orders, including challah for Rosh Hashanah. He lamented the end of the long relationship with a neighborhood business, especially one that’s open late and accepts EBT. “It’s a lose-lose for both of us,” he said.