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Our story

A grocery store that your neighbors built.

Fourteen years ago a hundred and twenty-five people crammed into Cozmic Café and voted to start their own grocery store. We’re still here — still locally owned, still community grown, and still stocked by people who shop the same shelves.

Placerville Food Co-op mark
How it all started

Four dates that got us here.

  1. 2008

    Co-op planning begins

    David Harde lists Noah's Ark for sale; a small group of neighbors starts meeting in living rooms and coffee shops to ask a simple question — should Placerville own its own grocery store?

  2. 2010

    First community meeting

    Cozmic Café. Over 125 people show up. A virtual unanimous vote to go ahead with Placerville Natural Foods Co-op. Fundraising starts that week.

  3. 2011

    Doors open

    The store opens to the public. Stocked by locals, staffed by locals, owned by locals.

  4. 2025

    Past 2,500 owners

    Fourteen years in. Two thousand five hundred owners and counting — and a community campaign launched to buy the building we've been leasing since day one.

2025 by the numbers

The real cost of shopping elsewhere.

Every dollar spent here is a vote for who gets it next. Here’s what 2025 looked like on the co-op’s own books.

$326K
spent with El Dorado County small businesses — almost all of them family-owned.
$75K
spent with businesses within 50 miles of the store, outside the county.
$310K
spent with regional partners within 150 miles of the store.
Total 2025 local economic impact
$712,011.33

That’s what a community-owned grocery store in El Dorado County actually does for its economy in one year.

  • 35+
    El Dorado County small-business partners.
  • $105K+
    of local produce sold in 2025 alone.
  • $44K+
    raised & donated to local community groups.
How a co-op actually works

The seven principles, in our own words.

Every food co-op from here to Vermont operates on the same seven principles. They’re older than most chains and more durable than most trends. Here’s how we live them.

  • Principle 01

    Voluntary & open membership

    Anyone can join. No gatekeepers, no shibboleths.

  • Principle 02

    Democratic owner control

    One owner, one vote. Elect the board. Set the direction.

  • Principle 03

    Economic participation

    Owners contribute equitably. Surplus goes back into the store, or the community.

  • Principle 04

    Autonomy & independence

    Self-governed. If we partner, it's on terms that keep us in charge.

  • Principle 05

    Education & information

    We teach what ownership means. To our staff, our neighbors, anyone who asks.

  • Principle 06

    Cooperation among co-ops

    We work with other co-ops locally and nationally — because the model only scales if it scales together.

  • Principle 07

    Concern for community

    We donate, we volunteer, we show up. The store is one expression of a larger promise.

Jacob Mingle, General Manager
Jacob, GM
From the GM
“When we say community-owned, we mean it. You can walk in here, become an owner for three hundred dollars, and the next week you’ll vote on the people who run the store. That’s not a marketing line. That’s Tuesday.”

— Jacob Mingle, General Manager

Become an owner Meet the board