East End Food Cooperative, a member-owned business, exists to create, promote and sustain a healthy, strong and vibrant local community that serves the need for physical well-being, mutual respect, social connectedness and economic vitality while ensuring sustainability in the use of all resources toward this end. Cooperatives as we know them today got their start in Rochdale, England in the 1840's. A group of striking flannel weavers got together and formed their own store to buy food at affordable prices. What made this cooperative different from previous ones was that the Rochdale Pioneers developed basic rules and principles by which to run their co-op.