Putney Food Co-op

What Putney Food Co-op does

Putney Food Co-op is a member-owned cooperative grocery store and food-service retailer that has operated continuously since its founding in 1941. It claims to be the second oldest continuously running cooperative in the United States and serves residents of Putney, Vermont and surrounding rural areas from a single retail location at 8 Carol Brown Way, Putney, VT.

The store combines a traditional grocery assortment (produce, dry goods, meat and cheese, beer and specialty beverages) with an on-site prepared-food operation that includes a made-to-order deli and sandwich board, a daily rotating hot bar with breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch service, a self-serve salad bar, an in-house bakery, and a coffee bar. Following a 2018-2019 expansion that added a 28-foot kitchen/dining extension, a 29-seat dine-in area, two new bathrooms, and an expanded hot bar, the co-op has shifted its mix toward prepared foods and community dining. Distribution is purely physical; the co-op has no e-commerce platform or app, and order-ahead for sandwiches is handled through a basic Squarespace-hosted menu page.

The business model is a consumer cooperative: ownership is distributed across the member body, with an elected 8-member Board of Directors providing governance. There are no outside investors, no disclosed revenue figures, and no public pricing data. Revenue mechanics derive from in-store grocery sales, deli and prepared-food transactions, and membership-supported community programs (Food for All, Round Up, donation requests). Customer acquisition is community-driven via a bi-weekly e-newsletter with 600+ subscribers, local outreach, and brand equity tied to long-standing local presence.

Name

Putney Food Co-op

Legal name

The Putney Food Coop

Website

https://putneyfood.coop

Company type

Private

Founded year

1941

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Putney Food Co-op is a member-owned community cooperative grocery store in Putney, Vermont, founded in 1941 and serving local residents with groceries, deli, hot bar, bakery, coffee bar, and grab-and-go prepared foods from a single retail storefront.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cooperative Grocery Retail

NAICS

Cafeterias, Grill Buffets, and Buffets (722514), Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Natural/Organic Food Co-ops & Community Natural Grocers (CRAHAEAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Food Co-ops with In-Store Prepared Foods & Deli (CRAHALAF), Breakfast-to-Go (Breakfast Sandwiches, Parfaits, Oatmeal) (CRAHAKAG)

Keywords

• Natural foods retail
• Grocery cooperative
• Organic foods
• Community-owned store
• Local food market

Headquarters

HQ city

Putney

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Putney Food Co-op is a member-owned cooperative grocery store that retails natural, organic, and locally-sourced foods to both member-owners and the general public. The co-op also operates an in-house prepared foods/café counter, a community-use kitchen space (The Flat), wholesale ordering for businesses, and multi-channel shopping including in-store, curbside pickup, local delivery, and UPS shipping.

Product overview

Putney Food Co-op is a community-owned cooperative grocery store and food service retailer offering a unified portfolio of retail food products and prepared foods. The core offerings include a full-service deli with made-to-order sandwiches and grab-and-go items, a hot bar with rotating daily specials (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), an in-house bakery producing fresh pastries and baked goods, a coffee bar with espresso and specialty drinks, a salad bar, curated meat and cheese counter, grocery and produce sections, beer and specialty beverages, and cooperative membership. Community programs such as the Food for All initiative complement the retail offerings. The co-op operates as a single physical retail location with no e-commerce platform or software product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Retail grocery store (natural, organic, local foods)

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Yellow BarnminorOthersYellow Barn generously offered their parking lot for construction equipment during the expansion project, helping the co-op minimize disruption during its building expansion.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Brattleboro Food Co-op: Community-owned food co-op located in Brattleboro, VT, about 20 miles from Putney. Operates the same member-owned grocery + deli + prepared foods model with a strong local/organic focus, and serves an overlapping Windham County trade area.
• Hanover Co-op Food Stores: Member-owned cooperative grocery with multiple stores in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire/Vermont. Offers grocery, deli, bakery, and prepared foods under the same co-op model, with comparable local/organic emphasis.
• City Market / Onion River Co-op: Large member-owned food co-op in Burlington, VT, with full deli, hot bar, bakery, and grocery. Same New England co-op model and local/organic positioning as Putney, but at materially larger scale (multiple locations). Closest direct analogue for member-owned community grocery with prepared foods.
• Berkshire Co-op Market: Member-owned cooperative grocery in Great Barrington, MA, with a deli, prepared foods, and an emphasis on local and organic producers. Comparable community co-op model serving a small rural New England town.
• Wild Oats Co-op: Member-owned natural foods co-op in Williamstown, MA, serving the Northern Berkshires. Same single-store community co-op profile, with grocery, deli, and prepared foods, and a comparable rural-catchment positioning.
• Monadnock Food Co-op: Community-owned food co-op in Keene, NH, similar in scale and rural-anchor profile to Putney. Operates a full grocery store with deli, hot bar, and bakery using the same member-owned cooperative structure and local-organic focus.

Regional players

• Stone Valley Community Market: Small community-owned food co-op in Poultney, VT, serving a similar rural Vermont catchment. Comparable single-store co-op model with grocery and prepared foods, though located in a different region of Vermont and therefore not directly competing for the same customers.

Broad incumbents

• Natural Grocers: National chain of small-format natural and organic grocery stores. Overlaps with Putney in organic and natural product assortment, but lacks the cooperative governance, deli/hot bar integration, and rural community-anchor role. Functions as a broad incumbent in the same natural foods category.
• Whole Foods Market: National natural and organic grocery chain. Competes with Putney for the same health-conscious, locally-sourced-conscious shopper, but operates at vastly greater scale and as part of Amazon's broader grocery ecosystem. Represents the broader natural foods incumbent against which Putney differentiates on community ownership and hyper-local curation.

Emerging players

• Healthy Living Market & Cafe: Independent natural foods market with cafe, deli, and prepared foods in Saratoga Springs and Wilton, NY. Overlaps with Putney in grocery + deli + cafe hybrid format and natural/organic positioning, but operates as a privately held retailer rather than a cooperative.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/PutneyFoodCoop
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/putney-food-co-op

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Putney Food Co-op