Gorilla Coffee on Strike

Cafe Regular Du Nord is a great place with nice employees......if you feel it takes four people to get you a cup of coffee: one to ring you up, one to deliver the message, one to make the coffee, and one to watch over the inch and a half of space they've got in case godknowswhat occurs....

....but, yes, good coffee. I don't know if I'd put it higher than the places serving Counter Culture (Milk Bar) or Stumptown (Trois Pommes) in the neighborhood, but I'd put it a solid third below those two and above Gorilla.

Now that Blue Bottle is roasting IN Brooklyn, though.....

I second that about Trois Pommes not correctly brewing their coffee. I do really like the taste of Stumptown coffee, but theirs is often lukewarm and found with grounds sunken in my cup.

What was that other brand of coffee you mentioned at Milk Bar? Counter culture? Where is Milk Bar? I'd love to try it!

i had the same exact experience this weekend
there were 3 people behind the counter at du nord
one to barely take my order, one to S L OW L Y make the drinks and one to taste the drinks that the guy making the drinks screwed up
their coffee is good, but not 8-10 minute wait good

i do love cafe grumpy.

never tried southside, but heard it's great.

thing is, for the north slope towards the park there's either ozzies (no), starbucks on 7th (hell no), cousin john's (would rather not) and du nord.

du nord is terrific and close. i've never had a problem with anyone being unfriendly, in fact there are a couple people there who know me by name and i look forward to going there and chatting. i think the people who work there are just a tad shy more than anything else. i genuinely don't think it's about being unfriendly, i think it's it's that they seem quite laid back and not super perky. i'm ok with that personally, but i can see how someone might mistake their quirks as something more. the coffee and the absolutely gorgeous space are enough for me anyway since it's the best and closest to me.

a good beverage takes a couple minutes to make properly. i don't mind waiting when it's good.

The former Gorilla Coffee workers deny that they are on strike. They just quit. Calling it a strike assumes that they intend to negotiate with management and maybe return. From what I understand, they are moving on.

Belz - how do the nice ladies of Trois Pomme brew the coffee that is incorrect? I am curious because I buy coffee there a lot and think it is pretty good, but if it could be better, that would be nice.

"Funkytoot" wrote:
What was that other brand of coffee you mentioned at Milk Bar? Counter culture? Where is Milk Bar? I'd love to try it!

Milk Bar is on the corner of Vanderbilt Av & Prospect Place, very friendly staff!

Subject: From the workers...

Their statement still doesn't mention what any of the issues may be other than a lack of "respect." Despite their notoriously bad service, I might be inclined to sympathize with them if they mentioned even one example of such lack of respect. Most of the jobs I've had over the years didn't offer me any respect from management - nor did I expect it (a paycheck does suffice). If there were labor law violations, they weren't reported through proper channels. If there was harassment or abuse, I would hope that they would have reported that in order to bring justice to the offender. But if it's just "lack of respect", similar to what the workers have always demonstrated towards their customers, it's hard for me to sympathize.

As a small business owner and manager myself, I do think it's apparent - whatever you think of the employees reasoning - that management has failed. You don't let stuff like this happen. I would have replaced the loudest dissenters first and tried harder to communicate with and build the morale of the others before anything like this could happen in my business. But the fact that it happened doesn't mean the workers were right. I've heard people say "it must have been really bad for them to do this" but that isn't necessarily true. We've all seen the way group mentality can take over rational thinking, especially amongst young kids like the Gorilla workers. If the cool kids are doing it....

I think Gorilla is the best coffee in NY and I only drink organic, fair trade so I won't be going to Cafe du Nord. I'm back to Ozzie's and Tea Lounge for now but I would be willing to stop buying Gorilla for good if I knew my money was going to really bad people who do really bad things (the reason I only drink organic/FT in the first place). So, to the workers: Why don't you tell us what really happened so that we as consumers can make an informed decision about where we spend our $5 a day.

thanks astigmatism...heading over now

It's weird, though I'm not a heavy coffee drinker and in fact I quit this past year, my family and boyfriend are and they LOVE Gorilla coffee. By BF is in there every week buying beans. Him and I have never in all the years we've lived in PS had bad service, certainly not 'rude' service.

I completely support their decision to quit. No one should have to work in a degrading, hostile environment. It's bad for the employee, bad for business and trickles down to the customer. Maybe all the horrible treatment by this manager created an environment that translated to some of the bad service that I've read here.

Shortcake wrote: I don't know if I'd put it higher than the places serving Counter Culture (Milk Bar)

Thanks for the reminder! Milk Bar's coffee IS good.

i'm going to apply to work at gorilla. you pour coffee into a cup, right?

belzjm wrote: blue bottle charges $4.25 for an iced coffee. no thank you.

trois pommes doesn't brew stumptown correctly. it's brewed much better at get fresh table and market on 5th avenue.

I'd pay that, and more, for Blue Bottle's iced coffee. Something that well done deserves the extra hole in my pocket it would burn. Best I've ever had, and I've had a lot of coffee.

I haven't hit the Ace Hotel Stumptown yet, but have had it at one of the originals in Portland. I agree Trois Pommes doesn't quite reach those heights, but I think they do a more than good enough job with the beans.

Looking forward to the Counter Culture shop. That, more than anything, would potentially tear me away from Gorilla when they re-open (well, it'd be nice if they started a roaster here as well.) All I can say about the worker/management situation is that I wasn't there and, therefore, am not going to speculate or point fingers. There's always the story that gets whipped around the blogs and press and, then, there's the real story.

belzjm wrote: counter culture isn't opening a shop. it was a false rumor.

they don't have any shops and don't plan on opening any. they are a wholesaler and training facility for baristas.

I haven't walked by the spot on 5th and Degraw where something is supposedly going up, but it sounds like there's some sort of signage up. If there is, I'll just assume it's someone serving Counter Culture, then.

Shortcake wrote: [quote=belzjm]counter culture isn't opening a shop. it was a false rumor.

they don't have any shops and don't plan on opening any. they are a wholesaler and training facility for baristas.

I haven't walked by the spot on 5th and Degraw where something is supposedly going up, but it sounds like there's some sort of signage up. If there is, I'll just assume it's someone serving Counter Culture, then.

Where at 5th and Degraw? All four corners are taken and I can't think of any empty storefronts right around there...

Spotted on Twitter earlier this evening...

Apparently several of the employees went to Hand Of Glory tonight to get matching walkout solidarity tats.

"@HandofGloryTat2 wrote: Joey just did 5 matching tattoos for the ex-staff of Gorilla Coffee in Park Slope. No pictures yet- but hopefully we can get one when they come back with a 6th ex-staff member later in the week...
Facebook • 4/14/10 9:48 PM