ZOES Coffee — Restaurant in Westminster

I worked here for six months and want to share my experience working for Zoe’s Coffee with hopes to warn potential new hires and customers. Initially, it seemed like a good opportunity with flexibility and a friendly business owner, but I was shown very quickly that was not actually the case. In my interview, the owner, Judy, told me I was absolutely perfect for the job and said she could accommodate for the availability and structure I was looking for. After about a month, her entire demeanor changed. She would throw out nasty remarks regarding my body, saying I’m too skinny and must not eat very much. Any suggestions I would make regarding food safety standards that we should push to meet, she would say things like, “So you’re saying I’m a bad business owner” or “You think you can run this place better than me.” After trying multiple times to communicate effectively with her about staff needs (since all of us were overworked, scheduled outside of availability, and stressed), she would ignore and avoid me while working for a weeks at a time.

I got promoted to lead barista roughly four months ago, with hopes to add structure and to make mine and the other baristas’ lives easier while working. I was able to make the schedule and accommodate for employee availability, with no appreciation from the owner. Instead, I had the “privilege” of doing the schedule held over my head the entire time with threats of her taking it over again. She would talk poorly about the other workers to me with the expectation of me joining in, and when I didn’t she would stonewall me once again. She would make homophobic, racist, and sexist comments about customers and the people working for her.

After months of verbal and emotional abuse, I started my job search and let her know I would be putting in my two week notice. She responded by taking me off the schedule completely, saying, “It’s not personal, it’s just business.” When I asked how to get my last paycheck she responded with, “If you drop off your apron and key I will give you your check.” I stopped by to drop off my things and she proceeded to get in my face to tell me I need to leave immediately since I don’t work there anymore.

She puts on a front with every new hire and makes false promises until they do something that slightly upsets her, just to treat them poorly and talk bad about them behind their backs. I, along with my coworkers, would not get paid for the correct amount of hours (constantly getting shorted) and would not get paid on the promised pay dates. The only way to get paid was if I constantly reminded her, in which she would argue and make mean remarks. She refused to turn on the AC on days that it was 85 degrees in the store, blaming it on me and saying I was just “hot blooded.”

All this aside, the cleanliness of this coffee shop is extremely concerning. Judy would push food way past their expiration dates, leave moldy food in the fridge, refuse to date items, and gave us minimal time to clean since she didn’t want to pay us for any extra time. Her dog, Chai, consistently had accidents in the coffee shop to which customers would let us know and we would have to clean it up. The espresso machine has never been thoroughly cleaned and her hair has been found in the quiche multiple times. I would be very concerned if you are buying coffee and/or food items.

If you are looking for a structured, healthy work environment, consistent pay, a supportive boss, and good quality coffee, I strongly encourage you to steer clear of...

The food is awesome, and so are the baristas, but the owner desperately needs to retire. I worked here for almost an entire day before I had to walk away due to the owner Judy's horrible management style & condescending attitude. She threatened to call the cops on me because I requested that she pay me for my hours worked that day. I understand she is old and this coffee shop is the last memory of her husband that she is trying to keep alive, but it has been nearly 3 months since this incident and I have not received any form of payment. I understand that a day's work at an independent coffee shop does not amount to a lot of money, but it is the principle of treating others with respect and paying your workers for the labor they have given. She essentially kicked me out when I gave her my honest input (after she asked) from an employee's perspective, as someone who has managed a coffee shop before, where I stated the establishment was lacking organization. I was simply going off the fact that we ran out of milk (at a coffee shop) and all Judy could provide was a half gallon of milk she had brought from the church breakfast she came from. She blamed everything (with an attitude of course) on the lead barista who essentially runs the place, and yet Judy fails to relinquish control & delegate managerial duties to someone who can adequately be responsible & properly stock inventory. I was let down by the lack of overall organization from a worker's perspective but more-so let down by the attitude & disrespect in which Judy treats her employees. I will delete this post once I have received proper compensation, as I have been messaging Judy for months about mailing out my check. She is so old & senile that it has not been done yet, of course, so I have resulted to the lowest of lows: leaving a poor review on Google in hopes this dusts the cobwebs off her brain and pushes her into action, which would simply be mailing out a check to pay out labor costs that is now nearly 90...

I just looked at the previous responses from the owner based on the negative experiences I’ve had here recently and I won’t go back bc of it. I’m all about supporting locally but that sadly doesn’t mean much anymore. The employees here I’ve interacted with are fantastic but are making up for the owner. She has messed up way too much and I’ve been more than patient. I was curious after the horrible service from her today ( the 4th time) and saw her responses from the negative reviews. I think she is doing this on purpose now. It’s been too much. She’s putting everything on her employees and taking zero responsibility. I won’t be back. I do thank the amazing employee that has helped though. You are awesome. No, owner I have not applied to work there so stop with that poor excuse. I also don’t condone the name calling by other patrons to the owner; That’s uncalled for and shame on you. I do feel the need to say something based on my recent experiences though. I was overcharged by the owner and not given my correct order after waiting about 45 minutes. I waited patiently ( saw others after me get their orders) bc she told me she was making a special quiche muffin bc they kept running out all the other times but then she came up with another strange story about making it next week instead when I asked later when I can expect it bc I was waiting so long. She did something strange after that too that made me really uncomfortable and shouted out that I needed to redeem my reward when other patrons were standing at the register confused. She really shouldn’t be up front but I’m not feeling what others are regarding the degradation they are expressing but I also wasn’t there for what they experienced. Either way, the responses from the owner aren’t OK if they are true. I really hope they aren’t bc “ you give me power” and all of that atrociousness better not be true. That’s what I just read and made me so angry so if it’s not really from you, you need...