The Middlebury Natural Foods Cooperative is a democratic, member-owned cooperative committed to providing healthy, competitively priced foods; encouraging ecologically sound and healthful patterns of production and consumption; and responding to members’ needs.

Co-op Ends: The Co-op exists to help our member-owners, customers, and the community benefit from:

- Healthy Foods
- Vibrant Local Economy
- Environmentally Sustainable and Energy Efficient Practices
- Co-operative Democratic Ownership
- Learning About These Values

Our Mission and our Ends guide us in day-to-day operations, inform our decision-making, and serve as a constant reminder of our purpose as a cooperative.

Co-ops are best described as not-for-profit enterprises, as opposed to for-profits or non-profits, in that they are designed to operate at cost, generating sufficient profit to meet member needs and goals rather than maximizing returns for investors. (Co-ops may have investors but they have no vote in the business and their financial return is limited.) Any money left over at the end of a given year — in basic terms, the difference between income and expenses — is often described as “net savings” or “surplus,” or what conventional businesses call “net profit.”