History

As Cooperative Coffees continues to grow and the volume of coffee we need to source increases, workloads also increase. By late 2005 the need for a solution to our hiring challenges in Canada had become quite apparent. Up until that point, Monika Firl had worked initially as an independent consultant, then under special contract through CC member Cafe Rico. However, these options did not offer opportunities for increasing hours or hiring additional part-time assistance for Monika.  

 In researching best options, we identified four possible solutions:

    * Monika set up her own sole proprietorship and contract with Cooperative Coffees;
    * Cooperative Coffees, Inc set up a subsidiary office located in Canada;
    * Cooperative Coffees set up an independent cooperative structure in Canada;
    * Cooperative Coffees set up an independent office as a not-for-profit business.

After reviewing the costs and benefits of each and consulting with local, economic development offices, pro-bono lawyers, and FT allies - we concluded that the cooperative option was the most attractive (in particular not-for-profit, solidarity coop option).

Not only did forming a coop keep us in step and spirit with our original structure, but it also turned out to be less expensive to establish and linked us to a broad support network to help get us set up and functional based in Quebec!

October 2006

Founding Assembly in conjunction with the CoopCoffees AGM held at Larry’s Beans in Raleigh, NC.

Elected our first BoD: Helen Voogd - President; Larry Larson - Vice President; Linda Burnside - Secretary; Bill Harris - Treasurer; and named Monika Firl as Manager.

The immediate result is that we now have a legal structure to pay salaries and to grow staff as we see necessary and appropriate. But we are also seeing additional and benefits materialize in “becoming legal” in Quebec.

CoopSol is becoming recognized in Montreal as an informed voice in Fair Trade, and has been invited to present Black Gold in Montreal (June 2007), and to present on FT panels and to participate in FT planning meetings (Equiterre, Quebec Social Forum, Social Justice Center).

Quebec is home to several progressive funds to support cooperative development, In the future, we will explore opportunities to support community and economic development together with our farmer partners.

May 2008

At the SCAA in may 2008, CoopSol held a meeting in which we invited long-standing Cooperative Coffees producer partners to join CoopSol as equal user members. Read more about this new development in the history of CoopSol in our Producer Voice section.

June 2008

Coop Coffees has recently undergone another kind of travel...that`s right, a major shift has occurred in Montreal: the Canadian Coop Coffees team has moved out of Monika Firl’s lovely apartment and into a new office!

We are sharing the space with a great local organization, the Committee for Human Rights in Latin America. They help support grassroots movements and defend human rights in Latin America.  We’re excited to get to know our officemates, and to add the signature CC decorative flair to these bare walls!

Our phone (1-514-907-9853 ext 3) and fax (1-514-221-3611) numbers are the same, but please take note of our new address: