Sharetea — Restaurant in Seattle

Edit on 12/23/2022 *keeping the 5 stars for our previous owners Emma & Sid and for all my coworkers that did their best to keep the store afloat.

As a former employee for the past two years, it saddens me that we shut down the way we did. We recently went under new ownership in September and were all very excited about the change. Just a few days ago, the manager sent a mass text saying we will be closed until further notice due to low sales, effective immediately.

All employees were let go with no notice or compensation for the rest of the shifts scheduled. We were offered recommendation letters as a form of compensation instead but we all know a simple letter will not cover rent, bills, food, etc (especially with a last minute, life changing decision).

The lack of transparency from this management (and whole family) is what disappointed me the most. Throughout the time of their ownership, they did nothing to help increase our sales. We always knew of how slow the store could be, but we did not know we were all going to be laid off right before Christmas because of it. We find out later on, they only bought our business to open a new store in International District. We were neglected and kept in the dark up until the very end.

I am not sure how management is at the other ShareTeas (Tukwila, Renton, UW, ID) but I am assuming it is about the same as they are a family run business. The Chang family are nice people but unethical businesspeople.

To our regulars, delivery drivers, and anyone who stepped into our store: we remember you all, miss you dearly and wish you are doing well.

TLDR: invest in businesses that care about...

Would rate zero stars if I could. I placed an online order through Clover and arrived at the store to pickup to find it locked and dark. There were no signs posted at the business and it was normal business hours. I verified that the restaurant was open and accepting orders through Clover. I also verified that the restaurant had charged my card. When I called the restaurant to inquire about the unexpected closure and the fact that they had charged me despite not being open, I was met by a voicemail box that was full. Over the next two days I called every few hours with the same results. I have been unable to get anybody to speak with this about. I will be filing a report with my bank to get my money back for the product I never received and the Better Business Bureau as accepting orders and taking money while closed and refusing to speak with customers is fraud. On previous occasions the staff had been socializing with friends, vaping behind the counter and once completely forgot to make my drink after ordering in store. I let that go and considered that A one off but with this additional experience I’m inclined to never visit the store again and I would recommend you do the same. This is a poorly run...

They either need to staff up here or figure out their process better. The tea is excellent, but the last three times i've gone in there, i've spent nearly a half an hour waiting for tea. Much of that time spent in line as me and the rest of the people in line painstakingly wait for the person at the counter to finally take our orders after entering 10-15 drinks from Ubereats or doordash into the register while just making us sit there.

The drinks frequently don't come out in the correct order either. Two times ago, i watched the guy who ordered ahead of me wait for his drink, only to have everyone behind him in line get there drinks first. Today, it was me, as orders 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 came out before my order 32 did.

The tea is great and i'm not going to accuse the staff of being lazy, because it's obvious to anyone with eyes that they're legit working their tails off back there, but the managers need to either hire more people or create better/more efficient systems for getting people's orders in and out in a...