Advocacy & Awareness
Good Food Isn't Good Enough
That’s why we invest in the systems and stories that shape how we feed our community. From prioritizing local and sustainable sourcing to creating space for learning, connection, and dialogue, your Co-op is rooted in the idea that food is about more than what’s on your plate. We’re committed to growing a more resilient, informed, and inclusive food culture. This means acknowledging barriers, showing up for our neighbors, and doing the work — inside our stores and out.
Anti-Racism & Anti-Oppression
In 2020, our Co-op joined with other businesses in our community to sign the Bozeman Freedom Pledge. We continue to honor and value that commitment today.
To be anti-racist isn’t just to “not be racist.” We recognize that racism exists in the form of micro-aggressions and systemic elements that go un-noticed by non-marginalized groups, and we have a responsibility to actively recognize and correct these behaviors in our own operation.
To be anti-racist means to commit to educating oneself about their own racism and oppose the systems in place that seek to divide us. As a Co-op we strive to provide a community gathering space where everyone can feel not just welcome, but safe, seen, and appreciated.
Moving forward, we will continue to act with an understanding that until everyone feels safe, welcome, and represented, no food community can claim completeness.
In 2020 our Co-op signed the Bozeman Freedom Pledge, committing to:
Adopting anti-racist store policies, including anti-racist hiring practices and customer and community relationships.
Accepting feedback from BIPOC community members with grace and responsiveness
Ongoing Institutional transformation to combat implicit bias and internalized racism of staff and owners, in the form of staff trainings, conflict mediation, and anti-racist goal setting.
Supporting ongoing work for Racial Justice in Bozeman moving our community to be more just.
Sustainability
As a Co-op, we are indebted to the opportunities given by the space around us. In taking active steps to be sustainable in our store, we aim to ensure Bozeman can remain a healthy place to grow and eat good food.
Our ability to provide you with good food is tied directly to the health of the land our food is grown on. We maintain a responsibility to that land, and to you, to operate in a way that minimizes harm and maximizes benefit. This includes prioritizing organic products from local and regional suppliers to ensure your food is clean and healthy.
Beyond our community, we work hard to ensure our globally sourced products are ethically and sustainably produced. If you have a concern about a product on our shelves, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
We have taken the following steps to ensure our Co-op is sustainable and climate conscious:
Solar Panels: Offset our electricity usage—in 2024 we produced enough solar energy to power 7 residential homes.
Green Roof: lessens heat from our store, provides a habitat for insects and birds, minimizes water runoff.
Paper Bags: The Co-op has never offered plastic bags.
Bulk: Bulk shopping is a great way to minimize packaging waste and help our planet.
Composting: In 2024, we diverted over 95 tons of compostable waste from the landfill.
Solar Hot Water Panels: Save energy by using the sun to preheat our water.
Accessibility
We cannot serve our community if our stores are not accessible to our neighbors. Through efforts like Co-Go and Self Check Lanes, food can become more accessible for every member of our community.
As your Co-op, we have a responsibility to you to ensure that our store never feels out of reach. Our current accessibility options include efforts to eliminate physical, social, and financial barriers for our community members.
Co-op West Main:
Automatic Front Doors – Ensure the physical accessibility of our store
Elevator – Ensures the physical accessibility of our upstairs cafe, seating area, and restrooms
Self Check Lanes – Provide the option for a low-interaction checkout experience
Co-Go – Allows customers to avoid the physical, social, and time demands of in-store shopping
E.A.T.S. – Enough Abundance To Share Provides a 15% discount to members who qualify for financial assistance
Co-op Downtown:
Automatic Front Doors – Ensure the physical accessibility of our store
E.A.T.S. – Enough Abundance To Share Provides a 15% discount to members who qualify for financial assistance
If you have any if you have any requests or insights on how we can make our Co-op feel more accessible to you please don’t hesitate to reach out. We are excited to work with you to find out how to make our store fully welcoming to all.
Food Sovereignty
Situated in Bozeman, MT, we are incredibly lucky to partner with such a strong community of farmers, ranchers, and other producers. We prioritize connecting you with food grown on the same land you live on.
“Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agricultural systems”
- Declaration of Nyéléni, the first global forum on food sovereignty
Co-ops aren’t just advocates for food sovereignty; they are a step in the process. We advocate for our community because we are owned by it. Our co-op exists because members of the Bozeman community had a desire to democratize their food systems to take control of the acquisition and distribution of their foods.
To strengthen the food sovereignty of our community, we prioritize local products and partner with local producers. More information on the local producers we partner with can be found on our Local Producers Webpage.
Community Engagement
As a democratic, community owned business, our greatest strength is your commitment and participation. Our Co-op isn’t just a store, it’s a community hub where our members can come together to find and create engagement opportunities in our larger Bozeman community
Education
One of our core cooperative principles is “education, training, and information.” Meaning, it is our responsibility as your Co-op to “provide education and training for (our) members, elected representatives, managers, and employees.”
To fulfill this commitment to you, and to encourage you to stay involved with the happenings of our Co-op, we are happy to put on the Gather & Grow speaker series, which occurs once a moth and offers our members insights from local health, sustainability, and food systems experts.
Information on past and future opportunities can be found on our blog and our e-newsletter.
Involvement
We like to think of ourselves as a community center that sells food. Beyond being your store and providing opportunities for you to learn more about your local food systems, we are working to create opportunities for involvement with our larger community.
In 2019, thanks to the help of volunteers from this community, we planted 40 pollinator-friendly trees at two locations in Bozeman. Our “Trees for Bees” event, as we called it, gave trees to the bees and an opportunity for hands on community involvement to our members. Your presence in this community defines our Co-op. We all work better when we work together.
