Other types of food co-operative
Co-operatives can be categorised in more than one way, so it can be a little confusing at first.
They can be defined according to their ownership structure and primary members, or to the product or service the co-op offers, or the activity they are engaged in.
Therefore the term food co-operative is used to describe any co-operative business that is involved in the production or supply of food.
This may include:
- Worker co-operatives - in which the members are the workers. These are businesses that are owned and controlled on a democratic basis by their employees. Many wholefood wholesalers and wholefood shops are run as workers co-operatives
- Producer co-operatives - which are owned and controlled by farmers. These can be involved in producing, processing or marketing agricultural products; they might also supply agricultural inputs and services to their members.
- Consumer co-operatives - in which the primary members are the co-operatives' customers. These types of co-operative can provide a variety of goods or services and can range from small groups of friends to large chains of retails outlets.
As our project is funded by the Big Lottery our website and toolkit focuses on community-run food co-ops that operate on a not-for-profit basis. These are often set up as consumer co-operatives but may also run on a more informal basis.
If you are interested in setting up another type of co-operative you can get more advice from Co-operatives UK.
