SCOP Les Ateliers

Since its inception in 2016, the aim of the project of Les Ateliers is to create an innovative company, economically viable, respectful of humans and environment. It’s about joining economical activities and social equality. The Cooperative Society Les Ateliers is settled in a renovated industrial wasteland in the heart of Castres, small city of 42,000 souls in the rural county of Tarn. Close to the Black Mountain, its closest economic centre is Toulouse, about 70 km afar. Les Ateliers are tenants of Etic Centre “Le 22”, a third place of 4000 sq. meters hosting structures in Social Economy around federative values like cooperation, resources pooling, sustainable development, innovation, etc. It’s a daily swirling of about a hundred people including workers from multiple companies in the pole, their users and customers. The concentration of these structures in that place leverages the possibilities of synergies and the visibility of each of them. The building also hosts activities such as yoga courses, danse or meditation… Les Ateliers share the same values, and as a Social Economy company, has recently transformed into a cooperative in november 2020. That choice is pushed by equality and implication values: in such a cooperative, the company belongs to its employees. They are in charge of collectively taking decisions for the sake of the whole company. Today, Les Ateliers’s team is composed of six people: four are associates and employees, and two are associates. Les Ateliers’s activities are organized around four axes: - the development of short supply chains and the promotion of healthy and responsible food with the management of a locally-supplied restaurant (45 seats per service, 8 services per week), using local, seasonal and fresh products. Supplying farmers are located within a 40km radius; - the implementation of actions towards sustainable development through an upcycling centre in charge of refurbishing second-hand and third-hand materials and furniture; - the inclusion and insertion, through training for fragilized users (teenagers in student disengagement, adults being kept away from employment); - the promotion and spreading of cultural offers: except during COVID19 period, cultural events are organized every Thursday and Saturday nights like music concerts, theatre, slam session, citizen cafe, debates, sign language evenings, and so on...