About Us

Started as a buying club in a living room in 1972, the Davis Food Co-op has grown into a full-service grocery store cooperatively owned by over 8,000 local households in Davis, CA.
We’re open 364 days a year, 7am to 10pm, seven days a week, although we do close a bit early on July 4th, Thanksgiving, December 24th & 31st, and January 1st.

A co-op, or cooperative, is a business that is collectively owned and governed by its members. Because we are locally owned, the Davis Food Co-op is a grocery store that keeps the ethics and needs of its community at its heart, while also aligning with other co-ops across the country and globally to bring the greatest benefits to our members. The Co-op showcases natural, organic and local foods, but strives to offer a full spectrum of groceries to serve our entire community. Everyone is welcome to shop at the Co-op and anyone is able to become a member at any point.

 Our Story

How We Got Started

In 1972 a group of 10 households comprised of passionate Davis residents and UC Davis students started a buying club. The goal of this buying club was to follow in the footsteps of other similar groups around the country that had started to seek out greater access to natural foods without having to support traditional corporations that dominated the grocery industry. With a focus on healthy foods and environmental sustainability, this buying club started with bulk purchases of produce, bulk items (spices, herbs, nuts, etc), and cheese. This food was housed in a living room and then split amongst the original members. As word spread and interest grew, the buying club eventually formalized as a cooperative and moved into a storefront.

Read a more in depth history of the early years of the Co-op here.

 

Where We Are Now

The Davis Food Co-op now has over 8,000 Owners and operates out of a 17,000 square foot store that carries everything from limes to laundry detergent. Over the past 50 years, the Co-op has had over 40,000 households take part in Ownership of the cooperative. While we have scaled our offerings over time to meet the needs of the community, we have stayed true to the foundation and ideals of the Co-op. Our commitment to our beginnings can be found in our Ends Statement below.  

 

Our Ends

The Davis Food Co-op exists to serve the local community so they have:
  • A thriving cooperatively owned business that enables shoppers to make informed purchasing decisions
  • Access to fresh, local, high-quality goods that thoughtfully balance impacts on people, the planet, and profitability
  • Staff who are valued, educated, and empowered

Land Acknowledgement

The Davis Food Co-op occupies land that belongs to three federally recognized Patwin tribes: Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community, Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. 

As we constantly work towards our Cooperative Principles Concern for the Community, and Education, Training, and Information, we have donated to local organizations that support this land acknowledgment such as the Center for Land Based Learning, Cache Creek Conservatory and Yolo Basin Foundation and will continue to do so. We know there is much work to be done to provide the space for Indigenous cultural conservation and education in our region.  

We invite you to learn more about whose land you are on here: https://native-land.ca/. You can also learn more about the #landback movement and how you can participate in and support land activism and Indigenous communities here: https://landback.org/.