Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. (NGVC)
Natural and organic grocery stores. Read November 8, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending September 30, 2025, filed December 11, 2025. Ranked 32 of the 90 Consumer Defensive companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
25%
projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index
End of 2028
28%
Employees, annual report
4,250
Leading staffing pattern
Food and Beverage Retailers (4451 and 4452 only)
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- Now25%
- End of 202727%
- End of 202828%
- End of 203028%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 72%
- Becomes checking a model's work 16%
- Handed over with lighter checks 11%
A grocery chain whose 4,250 Crew members are in its stores except the 410 it counts at the home office, repackaging facility and distribution center.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 25% now, 27% at the end of 2027, 28% at the end of 2028, 28% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 28% desk work, 20% people work and 52% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 72% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 16% becomes checking a model's work and 11% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
4,250 employees as of September 30, 2025 (sum of stated parts). Not stated in the excerpt.
The filing: “As of September 30, 2025, we employed 3,455 full-time and 795 part-time (less than 30 hours per week) Crew members, including a total of 410 Crew members at our home office and our bulk food repackaging facility and distribution center.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Food and Beverage Retailers (4451 and 4452 only) | 90% | Count (a): 3,840 of the 4,250 Crew members work in the natural and organic grocery stores, all but the 410 the filing counts at the home office, repackaging facility and distribution center. |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 10% | Count (a): a total of 410 Crew members at the home office and the bulk food repackaging facility and distribution center, a stated home-office count bundled with the warehouse under rule 6, flagged. |
What the filing says about the workforce: 3,455 full-time and 795 part-time (under 30 hours a week) Crew members; none of the stores unionized; 410 at the home office, repackaging facility and distribution center; store managers and assistant managers get four weeks of in-person training.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Food and Beverage Retailers (4451 and 4452 only), largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- Kroger (KR, 403,000 employees)22% now, 23% by 2028
- Albertsons (ACI, 280,000 employees)22% now, 23% by 2028
- Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (SFM, 36,000 employees)23% now, 23% by 2028
- Ingles Markets, Incorporated (IMKTA, 25,551 employees)22% now, 23% by 2028
- Weis Markets, Inc. (WMK, 22,000 employees)23% now, 23% by 2028
- Village Super Market, Inc. (VLGEA, 7,200 employees)23% now, 23% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
0 sentences in the filing name AI. No sentence names artificial intelligence.
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20230median 1
- Fiscal 20240median 4
- Fiscal 20250median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-09-30 | 3,455 | 2025-12-11 | 10-K |
| 2024-09-30 | 3,332 | 2024-12-12 | 10-K |
| 2023-09-30 | 3,235 | 2023-12-07 | 10-K |
| 2022-09-30 | 3,235 | 2022-12-08 | 10-K |
| 2021-09-30 | 3,218 | 2021-12-09 | 10-K |
| 2020-09-30 | 3,393 | 2020-12-10 | 10-K |
| 2019-09-30 | 3,029 | 2019-12-05 | 10-K |
| 2018-09-30 | 3,019 | 2018-12-06 | 10-K |
| 2017-09-30 | 2,755 | 2017-12-07 | 10-K |
| 2016-09-30 | 2,651 | 2016-12-08 | 10-K |
| 2015-09-30 | 2,447 | 2015-12-10 | 10-K |
| 2014-09-30 | 2,004 | 2014-12-11 | 10-K |
| 2013-09-30 | 1,648 | 2013-12-12 | 10-K |
| 2012-09-30 | 1,370 | 2012-12-13 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The collector's 3,455 is the full-time count alone; the headcount sums the stated full-time and part-time parts (rule 2).
- The 410 home-office count includes the repackaging facility and distribution center, which the filing does not count apart.
- The data service's segment table (Gift Cards 100%) is not a segment table and was not used.
- The U.S. share is not stated.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001437749-25-037556, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc., $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 25% now and 28% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. employ?
- 4,250 as of September 30, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending September 30, 2025 states as the sum of the parts it gives.
- What kinds of work make up Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 2 industry staffing patterns, the largest Food and Beverage Retailers (4451 and 4452 only); by those patterns the work is about 28% desk work, 20% people work and 52% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 0 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on November 8, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.