page_title: Food cooperative
section_title: Economic structure
hierarchical_section_title: Food cooperative / Economic structure
caption_attribution_description: the food co-op in Ames Iowa
context_page_description: A food cooperative or food co-op is a food distribution outlet organized as a cooperative, rather than a private or public company. Food cooperatives are usually consumer cooperatives, where the decisions regarding the production and distribution of its food are chosen by its members. Like all cooperatives, food cooperatives are often based on the 7 Rochdale Principles, and they typically offer natural foods. Since decisions about how to run a cooperative are not made by outside shareholders, cooperatives often exhibit a higher degree of social responsibility than their corporate analogues.
  In the United States, the National Cooperative Grocers is a cooperative federation that is composed of 146 food cooperatives.
context_section_description: A key aspect of the food cooperative model is the socialization of potential profit associated with running a grocery store. In a typical food production model, a store is owned by a company, which is in turn managed by either a board of directors and shareholders if the company is publicly owned, or a collection of private individuals if it is not. A food cooperative, in contrast, is directly owned by both its employees and its members, people who shop at the cooperative and who typically pay a nominal fee for joining. When the store makes a profit, much as with a corporation, these profits are either divided among the members or reinvested in the business. These decisions are often made by a board, for which any member of the cooperative can run. In general, membership is open to any community member, with stores adopting official policies of nondiscrimination. However, some cooperatives will limit membership to a certain geographic area, such as a state.
caption: A food cooperative in Ames, Iowa.
exif: {"Image Make": "Motorola", "Image Model": "XT1031", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Picasa", "Image DateTime": "2016:05:18 17:52:34", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "206", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "WGS-84", "Image GPSInfo": "718", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "892", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3956", "EXIF ExposureTime": "23/25000", "EXIF FNumber": "12/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "125", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:05:18 17:52:34", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2002:12:08 12:00:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1007/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "126303/50000", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "-1", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "126303/50000", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Average", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "7/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "768", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "dae1dc8afc3aa5ac0000000000000000"}