What is MILA?

Co-operative

The cooperative MILA Mitmach-Supermarkt was founded on 1 February 2023. As a cooperative, MILA is owned by 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 recognizes its rights and obligations can become a member. Our role models also operate their participatory supermarkets as co-operatives.

Become a member

There are two membership tiers at MILA: The regular investment share is EUR 180, the social rate EUR 20. We encourage people greater financial means to sign more shares.

Every vote counts the same and every member has only one vote, irrespective of how many shares you have signed.

Once upon a time … there was a mini market

To make waiting for the opening of the large  supermarket more bearable, we ran a mini-market until the end of August 2025. The mini market offered a good selection of fresh, farm-sourced and affordable foods.

The mini-market was not just a place for affordable food shopping, it was also served as a place for meeting people and doing business together, very much in the vein of the traditional meaning of market, a place for meeting. 

Product range and values

Our product range is constantly evolving as each member can suggest new products. This allows us to offer an inclusive product range that is reflecting our needs and the neighbourhood where we’re based. For conventional supermarkets, profit usually wins over mindful relationships with people, nature and animals. At MILA, it is possible to shop without discount battles and untrustworthy advertising claims. The members help select the product range – based on criteria such as regionality, seasonality, environmental protection, reduced packaging, animal welfare, labor rights as well as the cultural tastes 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 option available, or only at prices that would exclude some members.

Fair prices for all

MILA procures its products from small producers and production cooperatives as well as wholesalers. A good partnership with the producers – fair, at eye level, without price pressure – is central to this. There is a 30% markup on purchase prices to maintain MILA’s infrastructure. Because MILA is not about profit and the work contribution of its members saves on labor costs, the mark-up on many products will probably be lower than that of commercial supermarkets. Our pricing is honest and transparent. This allows members to compare and make informed purchase decisions.

Participation of members – your work slots

In order to be able to offer high-quality products at affordable prices, all members work in the supermarket for just three hours every four weeks.

Helping out means: restocking shelves, bringing goods into the warehouse, attaching price tags, sitting at the cash register, cleaning, etc.

There will be few full-time positions in the areas of operations management, member administration, purchasing logistics and accounting. Many members have already done work slots in the mini-market.

Network of participatory supermarkets

The structure of MILA Mitmach-Supermarkt is based on the model of functioning participatory supermarkets – above all the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, New York, which has been up and running for over 50 years. We are part of an international network of participatory supermarkets where we share experiences, technical solutions and much more. Many of the participatory supermarkets are located in neighbourhoods where people are affected by poverty and try to make high-quality yet affordable food more accessible to all.

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