What is MILA?

MILA participatory supermarket operates differently to the large supermarket groups that dominate the food market: At MILA, you get high-quality food at a favourable price. As a cooperative, MILA belongs to its members. MILA is open to anyone who enjoys great food and wants affordable, high-quality food and a respectful approach to producers, the environment and animals. Our range is determined by our members. Many of our products are organic, regional, seasonal and packaged as little as possible. We also have affordable conventional and international products. We are building MILA in Vienna along the lines of community supermarkets in other cities. We already run a minimarket. The next step will be the large MILA participatory supermarket in spring 2025, which will offer a full range of several thousand products and the opening hours of a conventional supermarket .

Cooperative

The cooperative MILA Mitmach-Supermarkt was founded on 1 February 2023. As a cooperative, MILA belongs to its members. The cooperative is the most democratic legal form in Austria for doing business together and is therefore ideal for MILA: anyone who supports the MILA concept and recognises the rights and obligations can become a member. The projects in other cities on which MILA is modelled also operate their participatory supermarkets as cooperatives.

 

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Become a member

The cooperative share at MILA is socially graduated. The standard share is 180 euros, the social share 20 euros. We recommend that those with greater financial means subscribe to more shares. Every vote counts the same and every member has exactly one vote, no matter how many shares you subscribe to. For the opening of the large MILA participatory supermarket – in spring 2025 – we want to have many cooperative members so that the supermarket can get off to a good start. It already pays off to join now and become a cooperative  member!

 

 

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Minimarket as a foretaste

To shorten the waiting time for the big supermarket, we already operate a minimarket. As a foretaste, the minimarket already offers a first selection of fresh, farm-fresh and affordable food. So it’s already worth taking part! The minimarket is not just a place where you can get good food at a good price – it is also a meeting place for MILA members and a social place for doing business together, reviving the traditional importance of the market as a meeting place where everyone is welcome to join in and become a cooperative member.

 

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Product selection and values

Our product range is constantly evolving since each member can suggest new products. This enables us to offer an inclusive range that is adapted to the neighbourhood and our needs. In conventional supermarkets, profit is a stronger motive than careful treatment of people, nature and animals. At MILA, it is possible to shop without discount battles and untrustworthy advertising promises. The members help determine the product range – based on criteria such as regionality, seasonality, environmental protection, minimizing packaging, animal welfare, labour rights and the cultural preferences of our members. Many products will be regional and organic, but not necessarily all. For a number of products, there is no regional or organic selection, or only at prices that would exclude some members.

 

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Fair prices for all

MILA buys from small producers and production cooperatives, but also from wholesalers. A good partnership with the producers – fair, on equal footing, without price pressure – is central to this. There is a surcharge on the purchase price to maintain MILA’s infrastructure. Because MILA is not about profit and the joint work of all members saves on labour costs, the mark-up on many products is likely to be lower than that of commercial supermarkets. All cooperative supermarkets are united by the standard mark-up on their products. In our minimarket it is currently 30 per cent, in our model projects between 25-30 per cent. This fair and transparent pricing enables members to compare and make informed decisions.

 

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Participation of members

In order to be able to offer high-quality products at affordable prices, all members will spend three hours in the supermarket every four weeks. Helping out means: stocking shelves, bringing goods into the store, attaching price tags, working the cash register, tidying up and much more. Of course, there will be a few full-time positions in the areas of operations management, member administration, purchasing logistics or accounting. Many members are already volunteering at the minimarket.

 

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Network of participatory supermarkets

We are founding MILA participatory supermarkets based on the model of existing participatory supermarkets – above all the Park Slope Food Coop supermarket in New York, which has been in existence for over 40 years. We are part of an international network of participatory supermarkets with whom we are in lively dialogue about experiences, technical solutions and much more. Many of the participatory supermarkets are located in neighbourhoods where people are affected by poverty and their goal is to make high-quality yet affordable food more accessible to everyone.

– Park Slope Food Coop in New York
– La Louve in Paris
– Superquinquin in Lille
– SuperCoop in Berlin
– BeesCoop in Brussels
– Foodhub in Munich

 

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