In order to offset costs, worker-owners were given coupons for free food (known as "Burger Bucks") and some of the original collective members purchased a house to live in cheaply.
After attempting and failing to take over the People's Warehouse (a distributor serving many of the cooperative businesses in the Twin Cities, run by representatives of various cooperatives) through negotiation at a board meeting, they simply walked into Warehouse offices and grabbed the checkbook and financial records.
(The total number of cooperative businesses was larger, around 20 or so, but the majority had more hierarchical management structures and were not worker-run).
Seward provided financial assistance to Hard Times in 2007 when circumstances conspired to shut down the Riverside diner.
[9] In 2020, following the closure of restaurants in Minneapolis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Seward Cafe held a fundraiser through GoFundMe, raising over $36,000.