Secret Garden Bar & Café in Denver closes, owners say "unrelated to employee unionization"

Twenty-two workers have been displaced after the Secret Garden Bar and Cafe in Denver abruptly shut down. Restaurant employees accuse management of union-busting, while owners cite financial losses.

Workers at the Secret Garden Bar and Café say they were blindsided by the restaurant's sudden closure — just one day before contract talks were set to begin and nine days before the café's scheduled Oct. 19 shutdown.

The closure displaced 22 employees, many of whom rallied outside the café this past weekend, calling for fair treatment after they said they were unexpectedly let go on Friday morning.

"Instead of showing up to the bargaining table, they decided we would rather close shop," one employee said. 

"They claimed it was due to financial reasons — but this is one of the busiest times we've ever had," said Tess Devillier, a barista for the cafe.

Eliana Frye, who has worked as a barista since the café opened 13 months ago, said the closure came as a shock.

"I knew they'd probably be upset that some of us were petitioning," Frye said. "But we did this because they were nonresponsive to our requests to bargain in good faith."

Employees say they unionized over the summer following repeated concerns about unsafe working conditions and a lack of pay transparency — including a 19% service charge customers were told not to tip over.

"It was what we chose to do as a team when we felt we weren't being heard," said barista Frye. "The service charge was one of the biggest things — we don't know where that money goes."

A spokesperson for City Street Investors, which owns the café, said in a statement to CBS Colorado that the business had operated "at a significant loss" since opening and that "the decision to close is entirely unrelated to the recent employee unionization."

The closure, however, has left many employees struggling.

"Having a place where I could work doing what I love, with a team I love — it wasn't something I wanted to give up," one worker said. "That's why I wanted to unionize rather than find another place to work."

Former employees have launched an online petition that has gathered nearly 2,000 signatures in less than two days. They've also set up a fundraiser to support the 22 displaced workers and continue to pressure City Street Investors to negotiate.