Baristas took Cherry Street Coffee hostage, but then lost their jobs

Progressive activists, alongside Cherry Street Coffee employees, staged a walkout on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Why? Because the business owner had the audacity to explain to the city council that the upcoming minimum wage hike is unsustainable. Thanks to their activism, the store is now permanently closed and they’re out of jobs. It’s what they deserve.

Seattle’s next minimum wage hike kicks in on January 1, 2025, and it’s going to hurt. The new phase eliminates the tip credit that bars, restaurants and cafes rely on. That credit currently lets businesses deduct $2.72 an hour if employees make at least that much in tips. But soon, that lifeline will be gone. Experts are already warning the food and beverage industry will take a hit — expect more Seattle businesses to shut down because they can’t handle the added expenses.

Ali Ghambari, owner of Cherry Street Coffee, tried to sound the alarm at a recent Seattle City Council meeting, pleading for relief. His business couldn’t absorb the blow. But his employees, showing just how little they understand about running a business, objected. They teamed up with socialist agitators, led by none other than former Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, and organized a walkout. They thought they could hold him hostage. The result? The store is shuttered and they’re jobless. Great work, team!

More from Jason Rantz: Baristas hold coffee shop hostage, business man warned not to share economic reality

Seattle protesters killed their own barista jobs at Cherry Street Coffee

Due to a staffing shortage, Ghambari temporarily closed the Capitol Hill location, though he managed to keep his three other Seattle cafes open. But Capitol Hill, home to some of the city’s most stubborn and reactionary extremist activists, was never going to let him operate there again. Not after he had the nerve to reasonably express his concerns about the minimum wage hike impacting his business. That’s an unforgivable sin in Capitol Hill.

Ghambari told the left-wing Capitol Hill Seattle Blog the shop won’t reopen as he initially intended. Now, he’s looking for a tenant to take over the lease. And something tells me that the low-skilled baristas who thought they could run his business better than he could aren’t lining up to take over. Funny how that works.

Seattle’s activists seem to think they’re entitled to dictate how Ghambari should run his business. It doesn’t matter that he poured his blood, sweat and tears into building it, taking all the financial risks, expanding his local shops, and hiring the very Progressive brats who ended up sinking it.

These baristas, in their selfish delusion, demanded Ghambari ignore the very real financial pressures that small business owners like him face in Seattle. Emboldened by the city’s far-left voters and politicians, who will support any protest as long as it comes from the Left, these workers pushed too far. Now, they’ve paid the price with their jobs. Poetic justice.

More from Jason Rantz: Panic as Seattle restaurants may not survive massive minimum wage shift

This shouldn’t be celebrated as a progressive win

It’s unclear whether Ghambari fired any of the employees at that location or (foolishly) offered them hours at his other cafes. Either way, they’ve gone from consistent hours at one coffee shop to inconsistent hours elsewhere or no job at all. Brilliant move, right?

Activists will probably see Ghambari’s closure as a win. He wasn’t progressive enough for their little echo chamber, so naturally, he doesn’t belong. The irony, of course, is that they’re celebrating the shutdown of a minority-owned business they’d typically pretend to champion. But facts don’t matter when you’re on a crusade. Shutting down a small coffee shop because the owner expressed legitimate concerns about wages isn’t a victory — it’s a pathetic self-own that ended up hurting everyone, from the staff to the community they claim to care about.

If the Seattle City Council doesn’t fix this disastrous minimum wage legislation by the end of the year, they’ll be sealing the fate of countless other businesses and employees. Those who just want to work and grow will be the ones paying the price for the selfish demands of these so-called “activists.”

Ghambari’s baristas were on a power trip, pretending they were fighting for a living wage. But instead, they pushed their boss closer to bankruptcy. Now, they’re the ones without a paycheck. Well done!

More from Jason Rantz: After crime crisis cost him his insurance, business owner vows to stop paying taxes in protest

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