Thinking of selling Zapatista coffee in a Co-operative

[BoratOfPhilosophy]

Morning comrades!

I have become extremely frustrated with current job at McDonald's. Ideally, I would like to organize my workplace and convert it to something more democratic, but I don't have the experience to do so effectively and between my own busy schedule and the tight latch on discussion during work-time I am unable to disseminate radical ideas among my co-workers and get them on board. I've decided that in order to express my beliefs and make a decent living that I would like to start up a small co-op and sell (primarily) Zapatista coffee, but also other products (yes, yes I know co-ops are just the left-wing of capital, consumerism is bad, etc. etc. but a prole's got to work). Does anyone have any experience starting their own co-operative or working with the Zapatistas? I live in Canada and am looking at two possible suppliers, Schools for Chiapas, and Bean North Coffee Roastings Co-Op. Any help/advice would be appreciated!

[Sasha]

I think its mostly about market, do you have enough people who want to buy your stuff to stay in buisness. We in amsterdam have a pretty sizeable radical scene yet only sell the coffee in volunteer run places who's main source of income is not the coffee like the radical bookstore and the day cafes and voku restaurants.
Running your own business is hard as fuck to begin with and radicals are the worst customer base you can have on top of that, no money, an allergy for people making profit, etc etc.
It's probably better to aim more at the umfeld, the fair-trade hippies, the ex radicals with decent jobs etc etc.

[BoratOfPhilosophy]

Ugh, bloody market. The Radical scene os quite small, but the organic and back-to-earth sorts are everywhere where I live, hippies included. About a half hour out of where I live is a land trust fully inhabited by such folk, as well as in the more urban parts there are plenty of eco-friendly buyers. There are two main farmers markets in the area, one on Fridays and another on Saturdays. Coffee is pretty popular around here, but the organic stuff isn't available for a reasonable price (and Zapatista coffee is sold by the carricoles quite cheaply for its quality). There's a reasonable market and good opportunities to sell. I'm hoping to maybe sell clothing and books, but that's a little ways off at this point.