At 7:58 p.m. on May 14, all employees at Wydown Coffee's two Washington, D.C. locations were fired. The popular two-location coffee chain closed overnight on the same day, less than four weeks before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was scheduled to count union election votes at both stores. Employees had been organizing with Workers United, the union that led the Starbucks unionization campaign.

The closure likely marks the end of the employees' union campaign—workers' ability to force a store to reopen is typically limited to partial closures, not a complete business shutdown—and represents another setback for coffee shop labor organizing in Washington, D.C. The city has largely resisted the wave of unionization sparked by Starbucks Workers United's victories.

Alex McCracken, co-owner of Wydown, wrote in an email to Restaurant Dive that he and the other two co-owners decided last year that they were "ready for a change." The closure notice sent by management to employees also mentioned that the closure was the result of a long, unspecified process.

"Tuesday, May 14, was our last day of operations," McCracken wrote.

Employees received little advance notice. Tom Friedl, a pro-union barista at the former Wydown location on 14th Street, said that the Friday before the closure, an employee found a printed draft of the email in the office, which was later sent on May 14. Union lawyers and Wydown employees considered the draft an intimidation tactic.

"There's no reason for them to just close this place. It seems profitable," Friedl said in an interview after the closure. He said the 14th Street location was always busy, with sales exceeding $1 million last year. The second cafe on H Street in Northeast D.C. was equally popular. Friedl also mentioned that the company was still trying to hire new employees until a week before the closure.

McCracken did not respond to requests for comment about the stores' financial performance.

Despite the store closures, Workers United still hopes to proceed with the NLRB election originally scheduled for early June, which was planned to be conducted by mail-in ballot.

"The union is still pushing for the vote to happen," Friedl said. "If we win the election, Workers United can more effectively negotiate severance pay."

Friedl said Wydown employees rejected the chain owners' offer to pay employees for the remainder of the pay period—since the stores closed mid-pay-period—viewing it as an excuse to avoid providing proper severance.

It is not uncommon for companies or parts of businesses to "self-destruct" during union campaigns. In Massachusetts, the four-location coffee chain Darwin's closed in 2022 during contract negotiations with Unite Here. Walmart eliminated deli meat-cutting positions in 2000 when it switched to pre-packaged meat, a widely known event. In 2017, online media platforms DNAInfo and Gothamist were shut down by their owner shortly after union elections.

Wydown employees organize a union against the odds

Full-service restaurants in Washington, D.C. have seen some labor organizing victories—for example, employees working with Unite Here Local 25 won voluntary recognition at José Andrés' The Bazaar earlier this year—but local coffee shops have struggled to gain union representation.

At La Colombe locations nationwide, organizing employees won elections by overwhelming margins at every site except one: a D.C. location, where the union withdrew its election petition. Meanwhile, Starbucks Workers United has made limited progress in the capital, winning representation at only two cafes citywide. In nearby Richmond, Virginia, a much smaller city, SBWU represents four stores within the city limits and several more in the suburbs.

At Wydown, employees faced a significant language divide between kitchen staff and front-of-house staff at the 14th Street location, an obstacle that often stalls union campaigns before they go public.

"The back of house is almost entirely Spanish-speaking," Friedl said in a separate interview before the closure. "Only a few people in the front of house know a little Spanish."

The organizing effort initially began with baristas at the H Street location, according to Josiah Batterson, the store's lead barista, in an interview before the closure. Holly Costanzo, a barista at H Street, said the store's union campaign had to rely on one employee—the head chef—to act as a translator between the Spanish-speaking kitchen staff and the English-speaking baristas and bakers.

High turnover also made it difficult to build lasting majority support at the H Street location. Employees also referred to this store as the Apollo location, named after the apartment building where the cafe is located.

"When I joined Apollo, they told me employee retention was two years, but it's been downhill since then," Batterson said.

Friedl said only two baristas at the 14th Street Wydown had worked for more than a year, each about 18 months, while cooks had slightly longer tenures.

When employees went public with their union campaign in April, they initially filed for an election as a single bargaining unit, but management forced them to re-file as two separate stores, delaying the election. While single-store bargaining units can sometimes benefit unions by allowing them to gain a foothold where they can win quickly, they can also make organized workers easier to isolate and defeat. For example, employers can concentrate management oversight at the store they believe has the weakest union support to stifle organizing, rather than spreading resources across the entire system.

"These were supposed to be the same store," Friedl said, adding that employees often moved between the two locations to cover staffing shortages. "We have the same website. Every item we sell is exactly the same. We have the exact same drinks and the exact same menu."

What they were fighting for

When Costanzo started at Wydown, they were already intent on organizing a union. A previous organizing attempt at their last employer had failed.

"I didn't have a big plan, but I thought, 'I still have this drive,' and I wanted better conditions for baristas," Costanzo said.

Through conversations with other employees, Costanzo found that the store was ripe for organizing because many employees had conflicts with the manager at the Apollo location.

Costanzo said that manager was eventually fired for unrelated issues, but he had inadvertently pushed many employees toward supporting the union: in one incident, the manager convinced the company's operations director to fire an employee for knocking too loudly on the office door. Employees had to knock to enter the office, which housed a walk-in cooler where staff stored supplies like almond milk and oat milk. Wydown's owners did not respond to requests for comment about working conditions or management practices.

"We had already started the organizing process," Costanzo said regarding that employee's firing, "but it was the final push for people. Because many felt that in that situation, anyone could be fired."

Other issues were deeper. Costanzo and Batterson said hours were unstable at the Apollo location. In one incident after the union went public, a shift supervisor was unable to work due to an injury unrelated to work, and management cut store hours rather than promoting a new shift supervisor. Scheduling and pay had been ongoing issues.

"Nobody works more than 30 hours a week," Friedl said.

Batterson said he was told during his interview at Wydown that he would earn $20 an hour as lead barista (a step above shift supervisor). However, when he started, he only earned $16 an hour. Batterson said baristas earned $11 an hour.

For context, the minimum wage for tipped workers in Washington, D.C. is $8 per hour—the city is phasing out the tip credit—while the non-tipped minimum wage is $17 per hour, according to the D.C. Department of Employment Services. According to MIT's living wage calculator, the living wage for a single adult in Washington, D.C. is $23.90 per hour. Washington is one of the most expensive cities in the U.S., ranking seventh in cost of living, according to CNBC.

Batterson joined the company because management told him during the hiring process that they planned to open a third location, which would provide advancement opportunities for skilled workers.

Staffing was another chronic issue at the Apollo location. Costanzo said that in the front of house, there was typically only one shift supervisor and one other employee on duty, with only a brief overlap of a second employee mid-shift.

"Our store was getting busier," Costanzo said. "It was absolutely overwhelming to handle."

Baristas, in addition to making drinks, handling the register, and online and third-party orders, also had to help serve and prepare the cafe's full menu. Costanzo said the staff on duty was simply insufficient to meet demand.

For back-of-house employees at the Apollo location, the working environment was physically uncomfortable; the kitchen had no air conditioning. Kitchen staffing also made it difficult for employees to take breaks—typically only two kitchen workers were on at the same time—meaning cooks often worked continuously without breaks while the ovens ran at full capacity and without ventilation.

In contrast, the 14th Street location was generally better staffed but had its own unique issue: water intrusion.

"We frequently had issues with water suddenly gushing up from the crack between the floor and the wall beneath the sinks," Friedl said. "It's been like that since last summer."

Friedl said the water flooding into the store could be the result of a broader issue with the building's plumbing system, rather than a problem with Wydown's sinks themselves.

"Once, it smelled like sewage. I've encountered smells like rotten fish. It's wastewater from somewhere. This is definitely not a safe working environment, especially for food service," Friedl said. "They just wouldn't close. They refused to close."

Friedl said employees eventually found the issues intolerable: the bathroom at the 14th Street location had no ventilation, and the espresso machine's steam wand leaked boiling water. Friedl said he was burned multiple times using these machines, and Costanzo said many pieces of equipment did not work properly.

"Between the two stores, there were four espresso machines total," Costanzo said. "Only one was fully functional, able to pull espresso shots and steam milk. The others partially worked but weren't fully operational."

Now, the issue of the functional espresso machine is moot; Wydown no longer exists. Employees have protested multiple times since the closure and have received significant community support as they continue to fight for severance. As of Wednesday, they had not yet received a compensation package from management.

"You can't put much pressure on a business that no longer exists," Friedl said. "We've done what we could."