If you go into a Taste store on any given day, you’ll see an employee wearing their new “owner” T-shirt.

That’s because Taste just got a little tastier for its more than 600 employees. The homegrown Virginia Beach-based business, which sells gourmet sandwiches, salads, house-made soups, sides, desserts and locally sourced retail products, recently announced its transition to 100% employee ownership under an employee stock ownership plan.

“It’s really about creating that ownership mentality culture that many businesses strive to create, but this is very real and tangible in a way that it wasn’t previously,” executive chairman Jon Pruden said.

That, in turn, will benefit customers and ensure the company’s future, Pruden said.

Employee ownership is a great opportunity for everyone to have some personal investment in the company’s success, said David Quinn, one of the new owners.

Quinn has worked at Taste for 15 years, working his way up from a cashier, sandwich specialist and delivery driver to a manager, events caterer and now training, development and compliance manager. He returned after leaving for college and described Taste as a family run-business with good values that really cares about its employees.

Pruden and chief executive and financial officer Chase Kopp began to explore the possibility of becoming an employee-owned enterprise last year.

As of 2022, there were about 6,500 U.S. businesses owned by employees through stock ownership plans, according to data from the National Center for Employee Ownership. That’s a fairly small proportion of the more than 33 million businesses and companies operating in the country.

After a deep dive in research, the company leaders made the transition to employee ownership in November 2024, backdating it to create a robust inaugural cohort of owners. They announced it to team members at the end of January.

“It’s basically just an added benefit for our current employees,” Kopp said.

He explained that it’s a retirement plan, governed — along with 401(k)s — under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. The plan is company-funded with no contributions required from employees. Shares are allocated annually based on compensation.

Roughly 140 employees qualified and were beginning to vest when the company announced it. Kopp said there is a three-year vesting period requiring 1,000 hours to get into the plan.

“They now have a stake to basically drive the value of the company up,” Kopp said. “Realistically, what we’re hoping is better service in the stores, more collaborative teamwork, more efficiencies and just overall everyone to up their game from here on out.”

The work employees do on a day-to-day basis will impact the value of their retirement plan, Kopp said. Referring to it as a win-win-win, Pruden said the company also becomes a tax-exempt entity.

Jordan Dennis, general manager of the Bayville Farms Taste, will celebrate nine years with the company in May and is equally excited about the new ownership structure. She said she views the transition as one that will create a culture of accountability, pride and collaboration, with employees’ efforts directly contributing to both personal and company growth.

“Ultimately, it aligns perfectly with our mission to cultivate community through the good life, as it empowers us all to contribute to and benefit from the success of the business,” she said.

The company was founded in 1973 as Taste Unlimited, a wine and cheese shop in Virginia Beach by the late Peter Coe. Coe expanded the business to five locations when Pruden, a longtime customer dating back to his teen years growing up off Shore Drive, led a group to acquire the company in 2006.

Under Pruden’s leadership, Taste continued to grow and the concept changed dramatically to feature high-design standards, comfortable seating, local rotating art and music. The company was rebranded to Taste in 2011.

In 2016, the Taste Family of Businesses was established as the management entity for its food and beverage brands. In 2019, the food retailer acquired Cuisine and Co., a long-standing catering business in Hampton Roads and rebranded it as Taste Catering and Events. The business group also operates the renovated Zinnia Cafe within the Chrysler Museum of Art and Taste Bakehouse, formerly known as Rowena’s.

The company operates nine Taste cafe locations, mostly in Hampton Roads with one in Richmond, and plans to open a 10th one in Pungo this fall.

“I really have a kind of a sense of stewardship for this business that I love and I want it to continue to be a community asset,” Pruden said. “From a long-range perspective, I think this kind of ensures that next chapter and that we might be around for another 50 years by creating this legacy for our employees.”