Umi Café co-op workers celebrate their efforts to save their business from foreclosure.
Supporting fair trade, social justice, and local non-profit events has finally paid off for the Umi Café at Somerset and Percy.
Community members raised $6,000 at a meeting in the little café on Jan. 25 as it struggled to avoid foreclosure. The café needed $5,000 before Feb. 1 to survive.
The café’s former owners had to pull their financial support several months ago before passing the torch quickly to a new co-operative of workers.
A worker’s co-op means that each worker has a share in the business, rather than just one or two owners, and decisions are made as a group.
The five workers who formed the Umi Café’s new co-op were left to pay the café’s rent, overdue bills, and paycheques – with very little money.
Between personal loans and word-of-mouth fundraising, the café managed to raise $1,000 more than they asked for.
Poole says the café’s regular customers have made it clear they won’t let their favourite hang-out close while the business transitions to its new management.
“I feel like it’s a story of a community coming together and saying, you know, we need more grassroots artistic hubs in the city, and we want to support co-operatives and co-operative developments,” Poole explained.
Amy Teper, who visits the café almost every day, says she’s glad the café’s customer base has rallied together to help Umi stay afloat.
“Coming in here can totally change my day,” she says. “I love the music, the art on the walls. It’s just a very loving place. It crosses a lot of borders, and brings people together.”
The café, which opened last summer, has always marketed itself as a free space, which helped build support from community members, Poole says. An old stand-up piano waits for musicians in one corner; a free book exchange encourages literacy and conversation in another. The café has hosted events for the Gulu Walk for Ugandan children, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, several local cultural groups and countless musicians and artists.
But the café’s open policy has also led to a close call with an eviction notice.
Admission was free for most events at the café, even though costumers hinted they were willing to pay. Poole says the workers put such an emphasis on creating a free space they neglected to uphold the café’s business aspects.
“The reality is we weren’t as professional as we could have been,” Poole says.
“We’re a community of artists and poets and creators and people that really believe in social justice and change, and maybe we didn’t have the training for how to make the perfect lattes, you know?”
The failing economy, transit strike and the opening of another coffee shop down the road didn’t help business either, she added.
The café is safe from foreclosure for another month, but the ongoing transition to a worker’s co-op will continue to put a strain on resources for several months.
“The workers have been putting a lot into this place, but the things we’ve been reading say that’s what a co-op is,” Poole says. “It’s built on a lot of sweat equity.”
Radu Chiru, one of the café’s former owners, says the long haul will be worth it.
“It’s definitely stressful in the short term, but in the long term, it’s going to be great,” Chiru says. “The workers really have to dig down and fight for it, because I think that’s how really solid co-operatives are built. The workers have to give a lot of themselves to the cause. It’s not easy.”
The café will continue to fund-raise as it applies for grants and loans from outside organizations. Poole says she hopes to raise enough money for some major renovations and redecorating.