Café Rico Equitable Inc

It was in hopes of learning the mechanisms for defending the social causes he believed in that Sevan Kordahi entered law school at Columbia University in New York. But by the time he'd graduated, he knew the practice of law wasn't the path to justice. Instead, he found something else that was: coffee.

Convinced that coffee, the most traded commodity on the planet, could be a vehicle for social change, Sevan set out to fight inequalities and balance out social injustices one cup of java at a time.

In 1998 on Rachel Street, Café Rico opened, the first fair trade coffee shop in Montreal. In January of 1999, Sevan invited friends, family and the press for the official launch and drew 450 people to sample his coffee. The fair trade movement in Montreal had been launched.

Café Rico thrived for 15 years, becoming a neighbourhood hub. But when the building owner wanted to do something else with the space, Sevan was forced to move, and reopened Café Rico not far away on Mont-Royal Street. It didn’t seem to matter too much, because although the space is somewhat more narrow, people still converge here for organic fair trade coffee and the welcoming café atmosphere.