Rollin' Oats Cafe — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

So I am new to this general area currently seeking employment once again. And I decided to stop by this health & food nutritious store to pick up a apple to eat being i was in the mood for a nice delicious organic apple. I noticed that the cafe looked like they could use a bit of help so I apply. I get a call from chef Ian asking me to come in for the cafe & I acknowledge the request& I decided to come in the following day for a interview with both chef Ian & Sarah. The interview went great as planned& we agree the salary. Although they weren't paying me what I am worth I take the position without hesitation. My first day i was pretty much just being analytical&learning the sandwiches. One thing I noticed right away was that they were cross contaminating the vegan sandwiches with meat cooking them on the same flat top surface. Imaging the vegan community if they were consciously aware that their "blackened tofu sandwich" was sitting right next to Turkey or pig bacon swimming in beef burger fat or the vegan sausage links or their beyond burger that they use the same brick as they did for their beef burgers. I personally was highly upset after seeing this & I mentioned it to chef Ian that that was considered cross contamination & if the vegan community knew this I personally know they wouldn't eat nothing vegan from the cafe. I feel being heath conscious must be respected & the fact that I was told that their customers knew this I was in total shock.. You must have health conscious chefs/cooks who know what they are doing if you were to run both meat & plant based options. I personally didn't agree with this method of the cafe cooking vegan burgers, blackened tofu, vegan sausage links all on the same flat top as they are cooking eggs, beef burgers, Turkey&pig bacon. That's just simply wrong&is considered cross contamination in any vegan chefs book. So I pay no mind to it although seeing it being done again&again using the same spatula to pick up meat&non meat was just unprofessional especially to be a " health food& nutrition market"That was day one. Day 2 came& it was brunch. Seeing how busy brunch was there was no time for Ian to consciously be heath wise about mixing meats with vegan option. Food was just being pushed out as customers waited for their food not knowing that the vegan customers has a bit of grease in their food from other meats. After my second day I decided that I personally wasn't going to continue to work for this cafe because I as a hired cook didn't want to be apart of this deception taking place. I had the next 2 days off. I like the honest person that I've became decided to go into the cafe& tell Ian personally I quit.. I wasn't going to tell him exactly why. For i didn't feel I had to explain myself to him or anyone of the company. Then Ian had the audacity to say I had mental issues because I chose to up&leave this company trying to insult my intelligence. But it had no phase to me&that is when I told him we are done talking & I proceeded to walk away from him. As I walked away I stated that I will be coming in for my check for the 2 days I worked & he tells me it might not be there ... It might be mailed to an address I don't live at after him knowing I live outside. My main concern was to let the vegan community who aren't aware of what they are eating when buying from this cafe. I as one of the cooks there have seen it with my own eyes & felt people should beware if eating vegan from this cafe. After brining it to Ian's attention & him telling me not to alter anything they do I just had to remove myself from the environment to search & keep my employment open for other possible employment that I can be happy to work in. I will not follow this pretentious "chef Ian" to lead all others blind. I can see for I am conscious & can determine right from wrong myself. I am posting this so that the changes can be made within the cafe. That's all we can do so change can take place for the market & for the consumers...

Updated: Spoke with the head manager John, great guy with excellent customer service skills. He handled the situation and I have since been back several times since.

Unfortunately I have to update my review. I'm still in shock as I have not experienced this yet at this store. However I told the manager I was going to write this review. So I was in line at Liem's register I hope I am spelling his name right. I advised him while he was ringing up my groceries that I do not get a good cell connection in there and needed to go by the door to unlock my card. Upon my return I noticed he had a attitude, Im guessing because of what I had to do. After he rang me up and said nothing I tapped my card and after it approved he said "oh it was $55". I said OK grabbed my recipt and said thank you, he said nothing. When I walked away I was a bit flustered and left my huge shopping list next to the card reader. When I walked back in to retrieve it he had a elderly couple there. He turned toward me and said "ya". I asked him if he saw it or tossed it. He said rudely that he didn't threw anything away. I stated I know I left it right here. Again with a even bigger attitude he stated "I didn't threw anything away" and pulled out his garbage can aggressively. I said in a friendly funny way " it didn't grow legs". He stated again he didn't threw it away. I asked him why the bad attitude and he basically shouted back "because you have one". I advised him I would call in the morning and speak with the manager and he said "go ahead". I got to the door and wondered to myself why wait. So I went to the customer service desk and asked for a manager. When he came up Liem was talking bad about me to the elderly customers. Mind you right in front of me and the manager. So once he completed their ordered he walked them to the door to continue talking about me to them. I pointed it out to the manager who was extremely apologetic. Stating he would speak with him. I advised him I spend a lot of money in that store and that I had just wrote a good review about the produce manager. I advised him I would be writing a bad review when I go home. Once again he was apologetic and nice. Some of these younger kids have terrible customer service skills. I don't say this much but he deserves to be fired. If that was my first visit it would of been a terrible experience. I will call in the morning to see how to get in touch with corporate as I will not let this go. I spend a lot of money in that store as it has many items I can't find in other stores. I will not return to that location until I know he is no longer employed. It is sad to say that and I hope others don't as well. With 3.4 million people who have seen my reviews, I hope they rectify the situation before others have to experience his rudeness.

Had to update review. Produce manager is excellent. Spoke with him Tues morning about a product out of stock. He kept his word and called me Wed morning to let me know the product came in that morning. That is awsome and I will always continue to shop here. Love this place. Great place for healthy foods. Excellent smoothies and many items other stores do not carry. Lots of...

Very knowledgeable staff, always a friendly environment. I love the diversity in choices for whatever I’m looking for, may it be supplements, personal hygiene items, or food. I couldn’t recommend this place anymore to someone who is trying to live a more healthy less “chemically” sustained lifestyle. Maybe we’re all crazy about this stuff but gosh it feels good to shop here no matter what that receipt looks like when I leave, I always leave with a sense of satisfaction and that I’m doing the best for my...