The Co-operative Food

The Co-operative Food, commonly referred to as the Co-op (and stylised as "The co-operative food" since 2013), is a brand devised for the grocery business of the consumer co-operative movement in the United Kingdom. The brand is commonly understood to represent one supermarket business though this is not true as it is used by over 15 different co-operative societies which operate over 4,000 outlets. Successor to Co-op Welcome and a range of regional formats, the latest version of the brand was introduced in 2008 with a significant advertising campaign. Customers of many of the larger UK co-operative societies can earn an annual share of the profits at any of "The Co-operative Food" branded stores in proportion to purchases through The Co-operative Membership scheme.

In 2015 The Co-operative Food was voted "best overall convenience store chain" at the CTP Awards.

Operations

Whilst the UK co-operative sector's market share of food retail has diminished from a peak of 30% in the 1950s to just 6.4% today, the largest business in the UK co-operative movement - The Co-operative Group - remains the fifth largest food retailer in the United Kingdom. "The Co-operative Food" brand is used by over 3,500 stores owned by the various societies which make up the co-operative movement, including the Central England Co-operative and the Midcounties Co-operative, but the brand is most associated with The Co-operative Group as it operates significantly the largest number of stores. A number of co-operative societies including Scotmid and the Lincolnshire Co-operative do not use the standard brand, preferring instead to retain the 1992 'cloverleaf version of The Co-operative brand.

The Co-operative Group

The Co-operative Group is a British consumer cooperative with a diverse family of retail businesses including food, insurance, funeral care, legal services and electricals. It is owned by its members who are democratically involved in setting the strategy of the business, deciding how its social goals are achieved and who share in its profits. With approximately 8 million members, it is the largest organisation of this type in the UK and membership is open to everyone aged 16 and over, provided they share the values and principles upon which the group was founded. The Co-operative Group has adopted The Co-operative brand which is used by many consumers' co-operatives in the UK to provide a consistent experience for customers using the majority of co-operative stores in the UK. The Co-operative Group is by far the largest of the consumers' co-operatives which collectively are often referred to in the UK as The Co-op. The business operates over 3,500 outlets and its slogan is "Here for you for life".

.coop

The domain coop is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for the use of cooperatives, wholly owned subsidiaries, and other organizations that exist to promote or support co-operatives.

The coop TLD was proposed by the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) as a response to the announcement by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in late 2000 of a phased release of seven new generic top-level domains in an expansion of the Internet domain name space.

The proposal was backed by many cooperatives and similar trade groups around the world, including the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA). The technical infrastructure for the coop TLD was developed by the worker cooperative Poptel in the United Kingdom and became operational on January 30, 2002.

The domain's sponsoring organization is DotCooperation LLC (also known as dotCoop), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Cooperative Business Association. DotCooperation is responsible for the TLD operation, including the enforcement of registration requirements. In 2005, the Midcounties Co-operative assumed operation of the domain registry through a subsidiary unit (Midcounties Co-operative Domains). DynDNS was contracted as the sole DNS provider for the registry in 2006.

Cooperative

A co-operative (also known as co-op, cooperative or coop) is an autonomous association of persons united voluntary to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled business. Cooperatives include non-profit community organizations and businesses that are owned and managed by the people who use their services (a consumer cooperative) or by the people who work there (a worker cooperative) or by the people who live there (a housing cooperative), hybrids such as worker cooperatives that are also consumer cooperatives or credit unions, multi-stakeholder cooperatives such as those that bring together civil society and local actors to deliver community needs, and second and third tier cooperatives whose members are other cooperatives.

In short, a co-op can be defined as "a jointly owned enterprise engaging in the production or distribution of goods or the supplying of services, operated by its members for their mutual benefit, typically organized by consumers or farmers." Co-operative businesses are typically more economically resilient than many other forms of enterprise, with twice the number of co-operatives (80%) surviving their first five years compared with other business ownership models (41%). Co-operatives frequently have social goals which they aim to accomplish by investing a proportion of trading profits back into their communities. As an example of this, in 2013, retail co-operatives in the UK invested 6.9% of their pre-tax profits in the communities in which they trade as compared with 2.4% for other rival supermarkets.

Co-op Atlantic

Co-op Atlantic is a Canadian collectively owned consumers' cooperative. The cooperative is legally owned by its members and controlled by a board of directors. The head offices of Co-op Atlantic are located in Moncton, New Brunswick.

History

The company was founded in 1927 in Moncton as a small Agricultural supply agricultural co-operative whose main idea was to provide a means for local farmers to promote their livestock. Today the group has 128 member co-operative enterprises across Atlantic Canada and Quebec.

In 2015, Sobeys acquired the company's store and gas units.

Main enterprises

The following is a list of the main enterprises.

References

See also