The Seasoned Spoon Café is a consumer/user cooperative where the people who use the co-op constitute its membership.  A cooperative is an organizational structure that is governed by its members and based on democratic participation. One of a cooperative’s key purposes is accountability to its members and consumers. According to the International Co-operative Alliance, a co-operative is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise." Cooperatives are based on principles of voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, member economic participation, autonomy and independence, education, training and information, cooperation among cooperatives, and concern for community.

As opposed to more traditional business models, which prioritize profits for investors, a consumer cooperative prioritizes providing quality goods and values self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. As a not-for-profit business with a social and environmental mandate, the Spoon is also a social enterprise. Social enterprises use the market to achieve social, environmental ends. The money raised through the café is used to achieve our mission and mandate.