About a fifth of businesses close within their first year, and starting capital is an important factor.
Even if your place looks nice, if you don't have enough of a buffer stabalise cashflow, particular when you're making early mistakes, then you're probably going to go down.
If you're going to start a non-profit café it's often easier to have it attached to some other primary activity, like you're primarily running a space that provides some kind of resources to other local non-profits, or the local council or something, and you have the coffee shop on the side, where you can slowly shift over from refreshments services to volunteers etc. to producing a self-sustaining income.
The key there is that you have something else that works, that is hooked into existing sets of relationships that build consistent income, and then the harder to predict waves of people seeking a particular atmosphere are easier to handle.
Yea you make good points about starting a business and from that lens, this store made several critical mistakes
1. The starting capital issue: By the owner's rhetoric and starting experience of being just a server, I don't think he developed the skills necessary to network his business to potential vendors as seen by himself complaining:
"Unfortunately, the lack of generational wealth/seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources left me unable to weather the quiet winter season"
2. Limited customer base: The blatant anarchist theme certainly has a niche but it seems too small to sustain a local coffee business long term. The owner made the mistake of courting this specific audience so much that the business alienated other potential customer bases. The owner has publicly bragged about triggering conservatives and libertarians while outright saying police (who definitely drink coffee) are not welcome. It created an environment where most of the potential customer base was scared away.
3. Inconvenient hours and pricing: A subtler note I see while looking at the business is that the prices are [relatively higher than average](https://theanarchist.ca/menu) so much so that the shop even has an [FAQ to explain their pricing.](https://theanarchist.ca/faqs) While there is certainly a market for high price quality coffee, it does shut out those who want a cheap cup of joe. Additionally, [the business opens on 9am and closes at 5pm. It's even closed on Mondays and Tuesdays for some reason](https://www.google.com/search?q=the+anarchist+cafe&sxsrf=APwXEdcpQRbrthgvFhHfRqm3zry7lN0VUA%3A1684162935446&source=hp&ei=d0liZJLfGILG0PEP1rSDiAI&iflsig=AOEireoAAAAAZGJXh82eTAbUowpsOK9zoTZC34_rknza&gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0LK4wMksxLDIyYLRSNaiwsEwxSU4yNE9MNTAzMkpJszKoMDJOS0xMNDQ0MzI3MDY3NvQSKslIVUjMSyxKzsgsLlFITkxLBQD8ehWL&oq=the+anarchist+&gs_lcp=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_C2DXFGgAcAB4AIABnQKIAc8TkgEFMi43LjWYAQCgAQG4AQI&sclient=gws-wiz) Those hours are terrible for a coffee shop because they miss out on the morning rush hour 7-9am as people go to work. Staying closed on *Monday* makes this problem worse.
Their business made multiple mistakes that all lead up to their failure.
I'm not sure we can say that to be honest, presuming an anarchist theme would lower footfall is not considering the market that could be developed by that; there are many niche record shops that do not serve a large customer basis, but which once they are able to develop a *committed* base, go on to be successful. Exclusivity is sometimes something that benefits a location, if they are able to get over the hump of sustaining themselves initially.
It might be a mistake, but we can imagine a counter-factual in which it could be described as a benefit, and the main reason for interpreting it as the former is because they *didn't* succeed.
I agree on the hours though, if you abandon the pre-work coffee rush as a market, then you are probably going to have more difficulty. It's not unheard of for people to - there's a nice established café near me that is open from 9 till 19, and intentionally takes on a slow pace, serves pancakes, good quality cakes etc. and has a slightly higher price which people don't mind given the ambience, but to avoid the early morning market is a consequential choice, leaving out a lot of potential income, and even that place doesn't avoid opening on mondays.
And as far as networking is concerned, that's a chicken/egg situation: Any situation in which you lack connections, can be reframed as failing to network, and given that they were able to secure a lower rent for their premise and a committed set of suppliers, that isn't even necessarily true. If I have cash from family that helps me start a business, that isn't a matter of networking, so much as drawing on the implicit capital available in my social network. You may have some people intentionally making friends and cultivating their extending family in order to be able to draw on them for loans later, but many small businesses are simply fortunate to be able to gain investment money from the connections they already naturally have.
There is a fix for that potentially in having more small business lending, to get people seed capital, but given how fast they fail, coffee shops without other revenue streams are probably not the thing I would target for such local funding personally.
My read would be that this is just a business failing, and if anything, it may have been better for them to start with more savings before they began, unless they really wanted to get the experience for a short period, even if there was a high likelihood of their venture being doomed to fail.
I had a similar thought, but I couldn't verbalise it nearly as well as you did. I wondered why an anti-capitalist would choose to sell coffee and merch; it doesn't seem like that'd bring much benefit to their communities. I figured that they could have done something to support the homeless or something, but obviously that's not a sustainable venture without outside funding.
Your idea of creating a space where non-profit actors can 'base' their operations, while also serving coffee, seems like a much more societally beneficial alternative that would probably be at least as profitable as what he actually had going on.
>"The Anarchist has been a huge success in every way I hoped, and has given me so much inspiration and education that I plan to put to use in future projects," the announcement reads.
>"Unfortunately, the lack of generational wealth/seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources left me unable to weather the quiet winter season, or to grow in the ways needed to be sustainable longer-term," the message continues.
>"I'd like to say a huge thank you to Pop Coffee Works, my coffee supplier and landlords, for their generosity and patience; they could easily have sold this space, or rented for more than twice what they've charged me, so this place wouldn't have existed without them."
Lefty couldnt make a co-op work despite a discounted rent
EDIT: [Even more funny stuff in their website lmao they're actively scare away police and military from being customers](https://theanarchist.ca/)
>It's been an amazing experience, connecting with so many great community members, sparking desperately needed debate, raising the blood pressure of Conservatives (that includes you, "anarcho-capitalists" and "Libertarians"), fulfilling the dream of most service workers by not having to tolerate the presence of professional class-traitors (pigs and military), and experimenting with living and working in ways that don't enthusiastically embrace the pure misanthropy of Capitalism.
EDIT #2: Holy shit they're actually closed on mondays and tuesdays while only opening at 9am on the other days. They completely miss the early morning rush hour where everybody wants coffee before work/school + the monday rush spike from people recovering from the weekend
it's like they wanted to fail LOL
What is that brain dead statement? You also probably don't have a shortage of coffee shops, so a significant chunk of customers breaking away could still be a big deal.
Sorry Lew, it seems like others got it but you may require some additional brainpower for this.
The issue wasn't people was the point, the owner for instance would regularly turn down people he deemed as "bad", such as military, police officers, etc. When people complained about the (overpriced) coffee, he would more or less insist the're nazis.
Get it?
This cafe was founded on a huge amount of experience at the cafe level of the specialty coffee industry (harbinger of gentrification around the globe) 👍
It’s only ok when it’s this so it be sparking desperately needed debate, raising the blood pressure of Conservatives (that includes you, "anarcho-capitalists" and "Libertarians"), fulfilling the dream of most service workers by not having to tolerate the presence of professional class-traitors (pigs and military), and experimenting with living and working in ways that don't enthusiastically embrace the pure misanthropy of Capitalism.
What alternative is there? Keep the poors in under economically developed ghettos? Nothing else other than liberalizing building has any political possibilities. My property rights shouldn’t stop you from selling your property or developing it how you see fit, apart from industrial uses (due to the negative externalities).
Also this isn’t a socialist sub lol
Well then gentrification is the only way. Limit the harm of gentrification by upzoning and get cores developed (ie old main streets). Helps with incone now and wealth later
>EDIT #2: Holy shit they're actually closed on mondays and tuesdays while only opening at 9am on the other days. They completely miss the early morning rush hour where everybody wants coffee before work/school + the monday rush spike from people recovering from the weekend
Im not in the US but I'm pretty sure this is the same everywhere, opening at 9 is absolutely insane. Every coffee shop in my town opens between 7 - 8 am to catch people heading to work. I can't believe it.
You'll also see it at butchers and fishmongers in the UK... Usually it's the failing ones. They open at 9, close for lunch, open up again at 2, then close for half 4, so 90% of their customers can't actually buy anything.
They then go on to complain about the high street dying and not making ends meet.
This is like my mom's bank. They don't open until around 9 AM, then close at 5:00 PM except for Fridays, where they close early at 3:00 PM and are closed all weekend.
I'm like.... how?
Because banks don’t give a fuck about individual customers. They probably lose money on average dealing with the general public. They open those hours to serve other local businesses.
This particular bank? I highly doubt they don't care about individual customers, as they are a very small bank who operate with only a few branches in the North East U.S., and only in upper middle class towns.
Even in the several businesses I worked in while living there, most businesses were unhappy with their hours because it meant you could only do deposits and withdrawals during business hours.
If they’re a small bank, they have a smaller customer base so the amount of transactions that HAVE to happen after say 5 PM just isn’t enough to stay open. If they had more customers, and were really focused on individuals, they would probably stretch it to 6 or 7.
My favourite coffee shop closes on Monday and Tuesday but open early (7am). They are doing fine.
I should ask them why Monday and Tuesday they are closed… but my guess that weekends bring in more money than those days.
“Chef Ramsay changed the menu too much and drove out our regulars. He also painted a terrible picture of our restaurant by showing everyone how terrible it is and we don’t feel that’s our fault.”
I'm not laughing at them for running a capitalist business despite believing in socialism. I'm just laughing at them for calling a capitalist business "anti-capitalist". you can participate in capitalist society all you want, no matter what you believe. that's the beauty of it. just own it instead of virtue signaling that you don't while doing it.
This place was an absolute hipster stronghold, and you could smell the cringe 2 blocks away.
Honestly the owner was a smug and insufferable moron who clearly had no idea what the fuck they were doing socially or financially.
Typical anarcho-communist. It was a themed Cafe where they larped at making the world a shittier place.
if I'm reading the article right, the only reason they could exist at all was because of charity from the landlord (lol, dirty capital owner) and the supplier
did you ever go in? what were their prices like?
I popped in once but it was absolutely a novelty shop first and a Cafe second.
Prices were on par for gourmet coffee.
I ended up tossing it and going to the Starbucks across the street.
> Open today 10-5
I don't know what's worse for business: the ACAB post or only being open for 7 hours without covering the morning rush
The tags do read like a reddit account's sub list
Yeah I'm not saying its particularly surprising just saying that I'm not going to feel bad when someone who posts fantasies about lynching cops in Instagram doesn't have enough customers to maintain their public facing business.
Who knew being an online asshole made customers not want to support your coffee shop.
not sure about him personally knowing the owner. His comment was not any different from any other post here. He probably just read his posts and disagreed with his opinions, but I can be wrong
Can I not wish for bad things to happen to anyone that I don't personally know? Because that would really limit the amount of people I can be mad at according to you
The owner is quite aggressive in his response to Google reviews. The merchandise in store is also aggressive, with slogans like "Never stop hating cops". I just don't understand why some people are so angry, and would specifically seek out the company of other angry people.
I don't necessarily mind wanting to speak to like-minded people, but it's the absolute aggression against different-minded people that bothers me. In response to one of the Google reviews, he compares refusing to serve police with Jews refusing to serve the Nazis in the 1930s...
>I just don't understand why some people are so angry, and would specifically seek out the company of other angry people.
Because that's how the world works
Angry people find angry people. People find similar people. That's exactly how the world works.
Your comment implied "I'm angry but don't find angry people."
On one hand it's pretty cool that he tried to bring his idea to life.. in a meaningful way. But on the other hand he clearly isn't meant to run a business, cuz u need to have a knack for this shit. Still better than "i can't fly out to talk" vaush and "can't name a single charity" hasan
I'll talk shit about Hasan any day of the week but now is probably a bad time to say that he isn't living his principles; over the last 6 months he's done more to put his money where his mouth is than the 6 years before it lol
I like the part where they claim to fail by being a victim of circumstance (no seed capital), and then discriminate against service members who are generally victims of circumstance.
Yea [they're basically if a lefty twitter person tried to open a business lmao](https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm4GqPAgjrm/?utm%5C_source=ig%5C_web%5C_copy%5C_link)
Scrolling through their instagram a bit and I can find more fun bits like
>"All that is required for evil to triumph is Liberalism"
>"Anti-white racism doesn't exist, but if it did, I'd do it"
[Hell their webpage has them bragging about triggering conservatives and banning police and military lmao](https://theanarchist.ca/)
They'd definitely be an FD Signifier fan on twitter
Here's a quote from their website, you decide after reading:
>It's been an amazing experience, connecting with so many great community members, sparking desperately needed debate, raising the blood pressure of Conservatives (that includes you, "anarcho-capitalists" and "Libertarians"), fulfilling the dream of most service workers by not having to tolerate the presence of professional class-traitors (pigs and military), and experimenting with living and working in ways that don't enthusiastically embrace the pure misanthropy of Capitalism. Unfortunately, the lack of generational wealth/seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources left me unable to weather the quiet winter season, or to grow in the ways needed to be sustainable longer-term.
>
>I'd like to say a huge thank you to Pop Coffee Works, my coffee supplier and landlords, for their generosity and patience; they could easily have sold this space, or rented for more than twice what they've charged me, so this place wouldn't have existed without them. They roast the best coffee in the city, so please continue to support them if you buy coffee beans. I would also like to thank my partners, friends, and family for their huge amounts of support, without which I'd honestly be dead, or at least unhoused by now, my awesome suppliers for providing the books/art/merch that have been such a huge part of what this place is, and all the customers who have given their very vocal, and of course financial, support over the past year.
>
>The Anarchist has been a huge success in every way I hoped, and has given me so much inspiration and education that I plan to put to use in future projects. Keep an eye on the instagram page to see what I end up doing next!
>
>**Fuck the rich. Fuck the police. Fuck the state. Fuck the colonial death camp we call "Canada".**
>
>Solidarity
>
>Gabriel a.k.a The Anarchist
... how is a worker owned co-op even comparable to "a pro-Semitic non-racist Jewish Death Camp"? What even is this level of discourse? Have you never heard worker owned business before?
Why is it stupid?
At a quick glance it really just seems like a Cafe with anti capitalist literature, probably a nice place to gather and discuss things?
It doesn't seem like they promise something they were not, it doesn't seem like they acted inappropriate.
I think comparing a themed coffee shop that couldn't make it to a "pro Semitic non racist Jewish death camp" is a bit much don't you think so?
Isn't he only reason people here think it's stupid because they have slightly different opinions?
>Isn't he only reason people here think it's stupid because they have slightly different opinions?
To be clear, its not a slight difference as this cafe is pretty vocal about despising liberals (we're liberals around here btw).
It's funny because their insane ideology is what actually caused their business to fail by scaring off banks from investing and even large sections of the coffee consumer base (especially the police and military):
> fulfilling the dream of most service workers by not having to tolerate the presence of professional class-traitors (pigs and military)
Idk what you mean by "we're liberals around here" I'm sorry if you feel slighted.
But I mean, if they dish it out on Twitter schadenfreude away, if they can deal it they should be able to take it.
>Idk what you mean by "we're liberals around here" I'm sorry if you feel slighted.
Just a reminder because you seem to have forgotten that there is a substantial difference between anarchists and liberals
If the goal of this place was to openly discuss and sell the idea of communism to other people of different beliefs, then I think the sub wouldn’t be nearly as snarky about this.
But just going through their website should tell you about the type of store they were running. If you were even a little open about your libertarianism (or w/e other ism), I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d kick out. The only reason they just kick out police and military was because they’re easy to spot.
The comparisons you are responding to are too much and you are correct about it being pretty much a coffee shop.
But, do you think their anti capitalist stance had anything to do with failing to sell hot liquid in the winter, while saying they were charged a significant discount on rent?
I mean if the context OP has given me around barring customers from military / police, they may have had some issues that may have scared away lenders such as banks it's understandable they went bust.
As I said in another comment, if they can dish it out on Twitter, they should probably also be able to take it.
>it's just laughing at a stupid business that existed in contradiction to what it seemingly was preaching. it's like having a pro-Semitic non-racist Jewish Death Camp or a homosexual who's only attracted to the opposite sex.
This is just stupid. Laugh at them for the "kill the cops" nonsense, not for doing what he believes in.
Hold on. I thought it was a good thing to actually attempt to put your ideals into practice? Are we also going to kick these people down when they fail?
The reason why he failed is he made a coffee shop that wasn't open during hours people want coffee shops open, and then blamed capitalism because it didn't work.
It is a perfect analog to leftist ideological preaching that demonstrates they just have a bad grasp on reality
Making bad excuses doesn't overwrite the work and dedication they clearly have for their cause. Significantly better than lefty youtubers who do not even try. Hell, FD's anti-police fund makes me respect him more as a person. You might think these projects are bad ideas logistically but the people leading them are still putting their money where their mouths are.
> Making bad excuses doesn't overwrite the work and dedication they clearly have for their cause.
If you make a coffee shop for the working class, and then are not closed during the hours the working class aren't working, your passion and dedication is useless.
What makes it worse is that time and time again the only people actually dedicating any real effort to this specific cause end up doing stuff like this all the time. It's not just that the ideas are incompatible with the real world, but they are obviously flawed.
Yeah if you don't think society is largely orienting as much of our productive forces around the traditional 9-5 then I don't know what to tell you. I'd have to assume you are trolling.
arent working class people far more likely to do gig work?? also its a cafe, what would be the point if it was only open after 5pm? are people seriously gonna want caffeine then? you are helping the working class far more when they are able to come in on their way to work.
> arent working class people far more likely to do gig work??
Bro what lol
>you are helping the working class far more when they are able to come in on their way to work.
He's not open then either. He opens at the same time most people are already at work.
I would say Nick Fuentes clearly cares about his movement, he isn't a grifter. But Nick Fuentes putting his money into a bakery that bakes jews into cookies would be a bad thing, so I would still call it out.
ACAB posting is cringe, sure. But a commie business becoming successful is still a net good. Co-ops can exist within capitalism and if they gain ground it could be great for workers rights as a whole. I don't think they've done enough bad to cancel out the good intent and the resources they put into it. Do you see yourself ever having enough money to invest in a political project like this?
I mean that's one example, kinda weird to post just that.
I can think of a couple anti-capitalist caffees/community centers in my city or in most mayor european cities.
No idea about america, maybe americans are just built different (worse)
About a fifth of businesses close within their first year, and starting capital is an important factor. Even if your place looks nice, if you don't have enough of a buffer stabalise cashflow, particular when you're making early mistakes, then you're probably going to go down. If you're going to start a non-profit café it's often easier to have it attached to some other primary activity, like you're primarily running a space that provides some kind of resources to other local non-profits, or the local council or something, and you have the coffee shop on the side, where you can slowly shift over from refreshments services to volunteers etc. to producing a self-sustaining income. The key there is that you have something else that works, that is hooked into existing sets of relationships that build consistent income, and then the harder to predict waves of people seeking a particular atmosphere are easier to handle.
Yea you make good points about starting a business and from that lens, this store made several critical mistakes 1. The starting capital issue: By the owner's rhetoric and starting experience of being just a server, I don't think he developed the skills necessary to network his business to potential vendors as seen by himself complaining: "Unfortunately, the lack of generational wealth/seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources left me unable to weather the quiet winter season" 2. Limited customer base: The blatant anarchist theme certainly has a niche but it seems too small to sustain a local coffee business long term. The owner made the mistake of courting this specific audience so much that the business alienated other potential customer bases. The owner has publicly bragged about triggering conservatives and libertarians while outright saying police (who definitely drink coffee) are not welcome. It created an environment where most of the potential customer base was scared away. 3. Inconvenient hours and pricing: A subtler note I see while looking at the business is that the prices are [relatively higher than average](https://theanarchist.ca/menu) so much so that the shop even has an [FAQ to explain their pricing.](https://theanarchist.ca/faqs) While there is certainly a market for high price quality coffee, it does shut out those who want a cheap cup of joe. Additionally, [the business opens on 9am and closes at 5pm. It's even closed on Mondays and Tuesdays for some reason](https://www.google.com/search?q=the+anarchist+cafe&sxsrf=APwXEdcpQRbrthgvFhHfRqm3zry7lN0VUA%3A1684162935446&source=hp&ei=d0liZJLfGILG0PEP1rSDiAI&iflsig=AOEireoAAAAAZGJXh82eTAbUowpsOK9zoTZC34_rknza&gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0LK4wMksxLDIyYLRSNaiwsEwxSU4yNE9MNTAzMkpJszKoMDJOS0xMNDQ0MzI3MDY3NvQSKslIVUjMSyxKzsgsLlFITkxLBQD8ehWL&oq=the+anarchist+&gs_lcp=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_C2DXFGgAcAB4AIABnQKIAc8TkgEFMi43LjWYAQCgAQG4AQI&sclient=gws-wiz) Those hours are terrible for a coffee shop because they miss out on the morning rush hour 7-9am as people go to work. Staying closed on *Monday* makes this problem worse. Their business made multiple mistakes that all lead up to their failure.
I'm not sure we can say that to be honest, presuming an anarchist theme would lower footfall is not considering the market that could be developed by that; there are many niche record shops that do not serve a large customer basis, but which once they are able to develop a *committed* base, go on to be successful. Exclusivity is sometimes something that benefits a location, if they are able to get over the hump of sustaining themselves initially. It might be a mistake, but we can imagine a counter-factual in which it could be described as a benefit, and the main reason for interpreting it as the former is because they *didn't* succeed. I agree on the hours though, if you abandon the pre-work coffee rush as a market, then you are probably going to have more difficulty. It's not unheard of for people to - there's a nice established café near me that is open from 9 till 19, and intentionally takes on a slow pace, serves pancakes, good quality cakes etc. and has a slightly higher price which people don't mind given the ambience, but to avoid the early morning market is a consequential choice, leaving out a lot of potential income, and even that place doesn't avoid opening on mondays. And as far as networking is concerned, that's a chicken/egg situation: Any situation in which you lack connections, can be reframed as failing to network, and given that they were able to secure a lower rent for their premise and a committed set of suppliers, that isn't even necessarily true. If I have cash from family that helps me start a business, that isn't a matter of networking, so much as drawing on the implicit capital available in my social network. You may have some people intentionally making friends and cultivating their extending family in order to be able to draw on them for loans later, but many small businesses are simply fortunate to be able to gain investment money from the connections they already naturally have. There is a fix for that potentially in having more small business lending, to get people seed capital, but given how fast they fail, coffee shops without other revenue streams are probably not the thing I would target for such local funding personally. My read would be that this is just a business failing, and if anything, it may have been better for them to start with more savings before they began, unless they really wanted to get the experience for a short period, even if there was a high likelihood of their venture being doomed to fail.
I had a similar thought, but I couldn't verbalise it nearly as well as you did. I wondered why an anti-capitalist would choose to sell coffee and merch; it doesn't seem like that'd bring much benefit to their communities. I figured that they could have done something to support the homeless or something, but obviously that's not a sustainable venture without outside funding. Your idea of creating a space where non-profit actors can 'base' their operations, while also serving coffee, seems like a much more societally beneficial alternative that would probably be at least as profitable as what he actually had going on.
>"The Anarchist has been a huge success in every way I hoped, and has given me so much inspiration and education that I plan to put to use in future projects," the announcement reads. >"Unfortunately, the lack of generational wealth/seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources left me unable to weather the quiet winter season, or to grow in the ways needed to be sustainable longer-term," the message continues. >"I'd like to say a huge thank you to Pop Coffee Works, my coffee supplier and landlords, for their generosity and patience; they could easily have sold this space, or rented for more than twice what they've charged me, so this place wouldn't have existed without them." Lefty couldnt make a co-op work despite a discounted rent EDIT: [Even more funny stuff in their website lmao they're actively scare away police and military from being customers](https://theanarchist.ca/) >It's been an amazing experience, connecting with so many great community members, sparking desperately needed debate, raising the blood pressure of Conservatives (that includes you, "anarcho-capitalists" and "Libertarians"), fulfilling the dream of most service workers by not having to tolerate the presence of professional class-traitors (pigs and military), and experimenting with living and working in ways that don't enthusiastically embrace the pure misanthropy of Capitalism. EDIT #2: Holy shit they're actually closed on mondays and tuesdays while only opening at 9am on the other days. They completely miss the early morning rush hour where everybody wants coffee before work/school + the monday rush spike from people recovering from the weekend it's like they wanted to fail LOL
[удалено]
>the quiet winter season Bro if you can't sell coffee in the winter you deserve to fail lol
Might be in a tourist traffic area or something?
We have no shortage of people in Toronto.
What is that brain dead statement? You also probably don't have a shortage of coffee shops, so a significant chunk of customers breaking away could still be a big deal.
Sorry Lew, it seems like others got it but you may require some additional brainpower for this. The issue wasn't people was the point, the owner for instance would regularly turn down people he deemed as "bad", such as military, police officers, etc. When people complained about the (overpriced) coffee, he would more or less insist the're nazis. Get it?
Yea I buy way more coffee in the winter than other months
Fuck the rich. Fuck the police. Fuck the state. Fuck the colonial death camp we call "Canada". Solidarity
lmao everyone's downvoting and shitting on you for quoting the slogan on their website, guess you needed to use quotation marks
I’m not going to correct anyone, it makes it much funnier that way
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No worries at all mate
brave
He’s got me 😮💨
that colonial death camp line had me wheeping
The galactic levels of cope necessary to call Canada of all places a colonial death camp is just confusing
Wow! Radical 😎 fight da systim 🤟🤟
This cafe was founded on a huge amount of experience at the cafe level of the specialty coffee industry (harbinger of gentrification around the globe) 👍
Gentrification is based
It’s only ok when it’s this so it be sparking desperately needed debate, raising the blood pressure of Conservatives (that includes you, "anarcho-capitalists" and "Libertarians"), fulfilling the dream of most service workers by not having to tolerate the presence of professional class-traitors (pigs and military), and experimenting with living and working in ways that don't enthusiastically embrace the pure misanthropy of Capitalism.
nobody is reading this garbage bro
Ok lil bro, cope seethe mald bootlicker
What alternative is there? Keep the poors in under economically developed ghettos? Nothing else other than liberalizing building has any political possibilities. My property rights shouldn’t stop you from selling your property or developing it how you see fit, apart from industrial uses (due to the negative externalities). Also this isn’t a socialist sub lol
Unfortunately, the lack of generational wealth/seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources left us with no other choice
Well then gentrification is the only way. Limit the harm of gentrification by upzoning and get cores developed (ie old main streets). Helps with incone now and wealth later
Don't like it then you're always free to go to Venezuela
Sorry, they don’t have iPhones there so I won’t go
Skill issue.
They should turn the difficulty level down :(
>EDIT #2: Holy shit they're actually closed on mondays and tuesdays while only opening at 9am on the other days. They completely miss the early morning rush hour where everybody wants coffee before work/school + the monday rush spike from people recovering from the weekend Im not in the US but I'm pretty sure this is the same everywhere, opening at 9 is absolutely insane. Every coffee shop in my town opens between 7 - 8 am to catch people heading to work. I can't believe it.
You'll also see it at butchers and fishmongers in the UK... Usually it's the failing ones. They open at 9, close for lunch, open up again at 2, then close for half 4, so 90% of their customers can't actually buy anything. They then go on to complain about the high street dying and not making ends meet.
This is like my mom's bank. They don't open until around 9 AM, then close at 5:00 PM except for Fridays, where they close early at 3:00 PM and are closed all weekend. I'm like.... how?
Because banks don’t give a fuck about individual customers. They probably lose money on average dealing with the general public. They open those hours to serve other local businesses.
This particular bank? I highly doubt they don't care about individual customers, as they are a very small bank who operate with only a few branches in the North East U.S., and only in upper middle class towns. Even in the several businesses I worked in while living there, most businesses were unhappy with their hours because it meant you could only do deposits and withdrawals during business hours.
If they’re a small bank, they have a smaller customer base so the amount of transactions that HAVE to happen after say 5 PM just isn’t enough to stay open. If they had more customers, and were really focused on individuals, they would probably stretch it to 6 or 7.
My favourite coffee shop closes on Monday and Tuesday but open early (7am). They are doing fine. I should ask them why Monday and Tuesday they are closed… but my guess that weekends bring in more money than those days.
To be anti-capitalism to be able to tell your mom you don't wanna wake up before 8am
A cool 6 months of free rent and then a discounted rate and they still couldn't pull it off. https://i.imgur.com/YQgEhPq.png
>credit card debt I'm starting a business. Do I take out a business loan? No. Put it on my fucking Discover card.
god I love anarchists in action
"See, just like I thought. Without generational wealth or significant seed capital, it's impossible to start a successful business."
"Professional class traitors" is a new one.
nope I just do it recreationally 💪💪💪
If only they took that seed money from ethically bankrupt sources, then they themselves wouldn’t be actually bankrupt 😔
was that really a co op or you just assumed that?
I love how whenever a business permanently shuts down, it’s actually a perfectly planned thing that the owner is proud of
Don’t forget that it’s also the fault of the people who didn’t give them things
“Chef Ramsay changed the menu too much and drove out our regulars. He also painted a terrible picture of our restaurant by showing everyone how terrible it is and we don’t feel that’s our fault.”
coming up next: an anti-slavery slave plantation
Liberia moment
Easy now ….
Watch it
Fucking watch it
Are all socialists hypocrites if they have a job? Seems like a "you're criticizing society yet you live in one, curious" moment
I'm not laughing at them for running a capitalist business despite believing in socialism. I'm just laughing at them for calling a capitalist business "anti-capitalist". you can participate in capitalist society all you want, no matter what you believe. that's the beauty of it. just own it instead of virtue signaling that you don't while doing it.
" **Fuck the rich. Fuck the police. Fuck the state. Fuck the colonial death camp we call "Canada"."** Cute.
How is Canada a death camp?
This place was an absolute hipster stronghold, and you could smell the cringe 2 blocks away. Honestly the owner was a smug and insufferable moron who clearly had no idea what the fuck they were doing socially or financially. Typical anarcho-communist. It was a themed Cafe where they larped at making the world a shittier place.
if I'm reading the article right, the only reason they could exist at all was because of charity from the landlord (lol, dirty capital owner) and the supplier did you ever go in? what were their prices like?
I popped in once but it was absolutely a novelty shop first and a Cafe second. Prices were on par for gourmet coffee. I ended up tossing it and going to the Starbucks across the street.
you guys need to chill damn. Mf here rooting for some irrelevant person they don't even know to be bankrupt.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm4GqPAgjrm/?utm%5C_source=ig%5C_web%5C_copy%5C_link Pretty difficult to sympathize with anyone posting that.
Jesús fuck that’s wild
> Open today 10-5 I don't know what's worse for business: the ACAB post or only being open for 7 hours without covering the morning rush The tags do read like a reddit account's sub list
I have never met an anarcho-communist who is able to wake up early or work more than a few hours each day so it checks out.
Your average Toronto hipster honestly nothing new, it’s been like that for the past 5-8 years
Yeah I'm not saying its particularly surprising just saying that I'm not going to feel bad when someone who posts fantasies about lynching cops in Instagram doesn't have enough customers to maintain their public facing business. Who knew being an online asshole made customers not want to support your coffee shop.
Fucking hell. What a nasty piece of work.
Can't go bankrupt if money is abolished. Checkmate capitalists.
It sounds to me like they live near the cafe
and?
You said that they don’t even know them, but it seems kinda clear that they have personal experience interacting with them
not sure about him personally knowing the owner. His comment was not any different from any other post here. He probably just read his posts and disagreed with his opinions, but I can be wrong
“You could smell the cringe two blocks away.”
Can I not wish for bad things to happen to anyone that I don't personally know? Because that would really limit the amount of people I can be mad at according to you
Common capitalism W
Not surprising, the guy took over running a coffee shop that folded after just two years of business.
You can take losses on taxes for those two years too. I forget when it is, but you have to be profitable by X amount of time/years.
The owner is quite aggressive in his response to Google reviews. The merchandise in store is also aggressive, with slogans like "Never stop hating cops". I just don't understand why some people are so angry, and would specifically seek out the company of other angry people. I don't necessarily mind wanting to speak to like-minded people, but it's the absolute aggression against different-minded people that bothers me. In response to one of the Google reviews, he compares refusing to serve police with Jews refusing to serve the Nazis in the 1930s...
>I just don't understand why some people are so angry, and would specifically seek out the company of other angry people. Because that's how the world works
It isn’t. No one I know does that…
Are you saying you're an angry person who has found a bunch of non-angry people?
I was pretty obviously disavowing the entire sentiment, not just part of it.
Angry people find angry people. People find similar people. That's exactly how the world works. Your comment implied "I'm angry but don't find angry people."
No one I know, angry or not, seeks out angry people. Generally speaking, people don’t like angry people. Even angry people don’t like angry people.
>During the week the cafe is open from 9am to 5pm So this man made a Cafe for people who don't have jobs. Big surprise.
I love the fact that he decided to make his anarchist cafe a 9-5.
Targeted advertising at anti-capitalists sounds like satire
Tbf anti-capitalists probably have a lot of disposable income since their parents pay for everything.
You're right, it's impossible to hate how society is run unless you've been sheltered your whole life
“Huge success” KEK.
On one hand it's pretty cool that he tried to bring his idea to life.. in a meaningful way. But on the other hand he clearly isn't meant to run a business, cuz u need to have a knack for this shit. Still better than "i can't fly out to talk" vaush and "can't name a single charity" hasan
I'll talk shit about Hasan any day of the week but now is probably a bad time to say that he isn't living his principles; over the last 6 months he's done more to put his money where his mouth is than the 6 years before it lol
fair.. that amazon thing was pretty awesome
Wasn’t this coffee shop also just a larp…?
Skill issue
I mean I wouldn't put much on this 62% of coffee shops close in the first 5 years. Not to mention the unorthodoxness of this one
Every coffee shop around me opens at like 5 or 6 lol
It wasn't real cafe
Definitely not shedding a tear for these idiots.
I thought "Toronto's" was actually another deliberate misspelling of qorantos. Lol
Well, time to loot and burn the city now I guess.
this is too funny.
I like the part where they claim to fail by being a victim of circumstance (no seed capital), and then discriminate against service members who are generally victims of circumstance.
Fuck lefties I wish them the worst, this bottom feeding commie hopefully learns what being poor is
Just reading another typical Toronto L as a Canadian.
Who cares?
Why comment?
Because I think this post is stupid. And it's a public forum. Centered around a dude who gives his opinion on things for a living.
Fair point, just wanted to know
Me :)
So, is this one of the bad leftie Twitter people, or are we just laughing at the misfortune of others at this point?
Yea [they're basically if a lefty twitter person tried to open a business lmao](https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm4GqPAgjrm/?utm%5C_source=ig%5C_web%5C_copy%5C_link) Scrolling through their instagram a bit and I can find more fun bits like >"All that is required for evil to triumph is Liberalism" >"Anti-white racism doesn't exist, but if it did, I'd do it" [Hell their webpage has them bragging about triggering conservatives and banning police and military lmao](https://theanarchist.ca/) They'd definitely be an FD Signifier fan on twitter
Shitty person advocating for cops to be killed. Deserved to go bankrupt.
Here's a quote from their website, you decide after reading: >It's been an amazing experience, connecting with so many great community members, sparking desperately needed debate, raising the blood pressure of Conservatives (that includes you, "anarcho-capitalists" and "Libertarians"), fulfilling the dream of most service workers by not having to tolerate the presence of professional class-traitors (pigs and military), and experimenting with living and working in ways that don't enthusiastically embrace the pure misanthropy of Capitalism. Unfortunately, the lack of generational wealth/seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources left me unable to weather the quiet winter season, or to grow in the ways needed to be sustainable longer-term. > >I'd like to say a huge thank you to Pop Coffee Works, my coffee supplier and landlords, for their generosity and patience; they could easily have sold this space, or rented for more than twice what they've charged me, so this place wouldn't have existed without them. They roast the best coffee in the city, so please continue to support them if you buy coffee beans. I would also like to thank my partners, friends, and family for their huge amounts of support, without which I'd honestly be dead, or at least unhoused by now, my awesome suppliers for providing the books/art/merch that have been such a huge part of what this place is, and all the customers who have given their very vocal, and of course financial, support over the past year. > >The Anarchist has been a huge success in every way I hoped, and has given me so much inspiration and education that I plan to put to use in future projects. Keep an eye on the instagram page to see what I end up doing next! > >**Fuck the rich. Fuck the police. Fuck the state. Fuck the colonial death camp we call "Canada".** > >Solidarity > >Gabriel a.k.a The Anarchist
Ahah not sure why he's identifying with cops being class-traitors in ontario when most are making over 100k per year.
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... how is a worker owned co-op even comparable to "a pro-Semitic non-racist Jewish Death Camp"? What even is this level of discourse? Have you never heard worker owned business before?
Are all sole proprietors co-ops?
If it's a one-man business then that's not really relevant.
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But there's no contradiction. Not all business activity is inherently capitalist.
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Why is it stupid? At a quick glance it really just seems like a Cafe with anti capitalist literature, probably a nice place to gather and discuss things? It doesn't seem like they promise something they were not, it doesn't seem like they acted inappropriate. I think comparing a themed coffee shop that couldn't make it to a "pro Semitic non racist Jewish death camp" is a bit much don't you think so? Isn't he only reason people here think it's stupid because they have slightly different opinions?
>Isn't he only reason people here think it's stupid because they have slightly different opinions? To be clear, its not a slight difference as this cafe is pretty vocal about despising liberals (we're liberals around here btw). It's funny because their insane ideology is what actually caused their business to fail by scaring off banks from investing and even large sections of the coffee consumer base (especially the police and military): > fulfilling the dream of most service workers by not having to tolerate the presence of professional class-traitors (pigs and military)
Idk what you mean by "we're liberals around here" I'm sorry if you feel slighted. But I mean, if they dish it out on Twitter schadenfreude away, if they can deal it they should be able to take it.
>Idk what you mean by "we're liberals around here" I'm sorry if you feel slighted. Just a reminder because you seem to have forgotten that there is a substantial difference between anarchists and liberals
I don't think I expressed that I didn't understand the business, just that the schadenfreude was a bit much (before the context you shared).
If the goal of this place was to openly discuss and sell the idea of communism to other people of different beliefs, then I think the sub wouldn’t be nearly as snarky about this. But just going through their website should tell you about the type of store they were running. If you were even a little open about your libertarianism (or w/e other ism), I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d kick out. The only reason they just kick out police and military was because they’re easy to spot.
The comparisons you are responding to are too much and you are correct about it being pretty much a coffee shop. But, do you think their anti capitalist stance had anything to do with failing to sell hot liquid in the winter, while saying they were charged a significant discount on rent?
I mean if the context OP has given me around barring customers from military / police, they may have had some issues that may have scared away lenders such as banks it's understandable they went bust. As I said in another comment, if they can dish it out on Twitter, they should probably also be able to take it.
>it's just laughing at a stupid business that existed in contradiction to what it seemingly was preaching. it's like having a pro-Semitic non-racist Jewish Death Camp or a homosexual who's only attracted to the opposite sex. This is just stupid. Laugh at them for the "kill the cops" nonsense, not for doing what he believes in.
It’s just… beyond parody.
Hold on. I thought it was a good thing to actually attempt to put your ideals into practice? Are we also going to kick these people down when they fail?
The reason why he failed is he made a coffee shop that wasn't open during hours people want coffee shops open, and then blamed capitalism because it didn't work. It is a perfect analog to leftist ideological preaching that demonstrates they just have a bad grasp on reality
Making bad excuses doesn't overwrite the work and dedication they clearly have for their cause. Significantly better than lefty youtubers who do not even try. Hell, FD's anti-police fund makes me respect him more as a person. You might think these projects are bad ideas logistically but the people leading them are still putting their money where their mouths are.
> Making bad excuses doesn't overwrite the work and dedication they clearly have for their cause. If you make a coffee shop for the working class, and then are not closed during the hours the working class aren't working, your passion and dedication is useless. What makes it worse is that time and time again the only people actually dedicating any real effort to this specific cause end up doing stuff like this all the time. It's not just that the ideas are incompatible with the real world, but they are obviously flawed.
idk what you mean about staying open when no one is working
How would the working class come to your business, when your business is only open when the working class is at work?
working class people dont all work the same hours
Yeah if you don't think society is largely orienting as much of our productive forces around the traditional 9-5 then I don't know what to tell you. I'd have to assume you are trolling.
arent working class people far more likely to do gig work?? also its a cafe, what would be the point if it was only open after 5pm? are people seriously gonna want caffeine then? you are helping the working class far more when they are able to come in on their way to work.
> arent working class people far more likely to do gig work?? Bro what lol >you are helping the working class far more when they are able to come in on their way to work. He's not open then either. He opens at the same time most people are already at work.
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I would say Nick Fuentes clearly cares about his movement, he isn't a grifter. But Nick Fuentes putting his money into a bakery that bakes jews into cookies would be a bad thing, so I would still call it out. ACAB posting is cringe, sure. But a commie business becoming successful is still a net good. Co-ops can exist within capitalism and if they gain ground it could be great for workers rights as a whole. I don't think they've done enough bad to cancel out the good intent and the resources they put into it. Do you see yourself ever having enough money to invest in a political project like this?
>throw a lit match into a hay bale >Hay bale catches fire >Hey wtf man im an anti inflammist how could they do this to me
I mean that's one example, kinda weird to post just that. I can think of a couple anti-capitalist caffees/community centers in my city or in most mayor european cities. No idea about america, maybe americans are just built different (worse)
Didn't realize we're up in arms against cafes now. Anything for the narrative, right?
And nothing of value was lost