Cafe With A ‘Pay-What-You-Want’ Model Narrowly Escapes Closure

Amid widespread inflation, unionization movements, and the increasing presence of automation in the workplace, there’s much to dislike about capitalism. One Toronto-based cafe called The Anarchist subverts the usual business model by offering customers a “pay-what-you-want” model. 

Owner and sole-employee Gabriel Sims-Fewer described the bastion for budgets as “an anti-capitalists café, shop and radical community space on stolen land at 190 Jarvis.”  The message is strong, and the coffee is as well. Sims-Fewer gained years of experience working at specialty cafes, which he disdainfully refers to as the “harbinger of gentrification around the globe.” Anarchism aside, the cafe’s aim is to be a delicious and subversive alternative to what we’re all used to.

This new cafe in Toronto is proudly anti-capitalist ☕️ #Toronto #TorontoCafe pic.twitter.com/5yPvwyIR0Q

— blogTO (@blogTO) May 23, 2022

Sims-Fewer’s political leanings extend beyond coffee — the cafe also sells radical books, art, tiny knick knacks, clothing, and more.

Since it opened in 2022, the insurgent cafe has unsurprisingly made more buzz than bucks. In fact, it narrowly avoided closure this month thanks to an outpouring of online support and a donation from the Christian Conservatives of Texas and Florida. The irony of it all is that you need capitalism in order to successfully run an anti-capitalist business.

Also ironic is how they’ve somehow managed to garner more publicity for this month’s near-closure than any of the months prior. As admirable as The Anarchist’s business model is, if they wanna continue stoking the flames of anti-capitalism with coffee, they’re gonna have to brew up a way to keep their doors open.

Those looking to support Sims-Fewer’s anti-establishment experiment can donate here, or if you’re local, stop on by and pay what want.