'Brutally massive crowds': Some Disneyland-area workers are fed up
'We are the key to any potential of the turnaround effort in the company,' a barista said
By Julie Tremaine
According to employees of the Starbucks at Downtown Disney, the Disneyland-adjacent coffee shop is not the “happiest place on earth.” Baristas have been staging work-stoppage protests over the past few months, in what they said is a desperate attempt to get the coffee giant’s upper management to hear their complaints about staffing issues and corporate expectations.
On July 19, employees staged a work stoppage at the Starbucks in the Downtown Disney District, the shopping and dining district that doesn’t require a park ticket for entry and that connects Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park to the resort’s hotels. In a video posted on the Disneyland Reddit, employees of the Anaheim coffee shop cited poor working conditions, low pay and a lack of support from management.
In a message addressed directly to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, an employee said, “We, your green-aproned partners, are the face of the Starbucks experience, and we are the key to any potential of the turnaround effort in the company.” The company, according to Forbes, has been losing market share and dealing with blows to its reputation, partly prompted by baristas raising visibility about various issues, such as those mentioned in the July 19 speech.
“We are the ones who foster connections with customers and keep them coming back, but time and time again, you are ignoring our demands and making our jobs harder,” the employee continued. “Your priorities are all wrong. While you spend money on celebrity appearances and posh manager conferences in Las Vegas, many of us are struggling to pay rent, and while you’re adding complicated new Frappuccinos to the menu, we are fighting through understaffing shifts that make it impossible to get our drinks out within your newly declared four-minute rule. We deserve better.”
Niccol announced the “four-minute rule” for employees delivering orders to customers in October 2024 at his first conference call with investors since joining the company in September 2024, an effort to improve customer experience and boost sales.
The Downtown Disney location consistently has long lines. According to a statement made by Disney CEO Bob Iger during the celebration of the park’s 70th birthday on July 17, Disneyland sees nearly 30 million visitors a year. Almost all of them walk through at least some portion of Downtown Disney. In past years, there were two Starbucks locations in the shopping and dining district connecting the parks, but one closed in 2021. Today, the location next to the World of Disney gift shop is the only large-volume coffee shop in Downtown Disney. (Sip & Sonder in the Parkside Market food hall is a smaller coffee shop that opened in January.)
“This isn’t just about coffee anymore,” an anonymous employee told Disney Dining after the July 19 protest. “It’s about being heard. It’s about not being pushed past your limits just to hit numbers that don’t reflect reality.” The work stoppage didn’t completely halt service, according to the fan site, but slowed it considerably — and got the attention of guests.
“You don’t expect to see this here,” a guest from Colorado told Disney Dining. “But honestly, I support them. If they’re not being treated right, they should speak up. Even if it’s in the middle of Disneyland.”
Another guest visiting from Arizona told fan site Disney Fanatic, “If they’re walking out here, of all places, it must be serious.”
The work stoppage was part of a larger effort nationwide. “As Starbucks faces mounting pressure to fix its growing issues, Starbucks Workers United baristas at 125 stores across the country took action last week to demand the coffee giant make good on its promise to finalize a fair union contract with the 12,000 union partners who are essential to the Starbucks experience,” Michelle Eisen, a spokesperson for Starbucks Workers United and a 15-year veteran barista, told SFGATE via email. “Baristas are the ones who foster connections with customers and keep them coming back. Starbucks won’t thrive until we do.”
It’s not the first work stoppage that the Downtown Disney Starbucks employees have held in recent months. On May 24, baristas at the shop also stopped mid-shift to read statements of protest. “Our stores have been experiencing understaffing and scheduling issues for far too long, furthering stress for partners simply trying to make enough to pay bills and rent,” an employee read from a prepared statement in a video posted by Starbucks Workers United, a union advocacy group run by Starbucks employees. “Management is regularly scheduled [on] coverage hours but are not working on premises, preventing necessary conversations from being held.”
“Workers are being hired with the promise of full-time hours but are receiving well below what we need to survive,” the employee added.
In the May 24 video, the caption read: “How can we serve ~Disney magic~ when Starbucks isn’t doing right by their workers? Baristas at the Downtown Disney store in the Disneyland Resort held a work stoppage to deliver a letter to management and corporate. Workers regularly experience understaffed shifts with brutally massive crowds - all while managers regularly clock-in off-site. Downtown Disney baristas are organizing as a union to demand proper staffing, guaranteed scheduling, and a living wage, all in a fair contract!”
The Starbucks locations inside the Disneyland Park and the Disney California Adventure Park (called Market House and Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe, respectively) are licensed by Disney, but the Downtown Disney location is owned and operated by Starbucks itself. There’s also a hidden location “backstage” at Disneyland for park employees only.
Workers have been striking and unionizing at the coffee chain’s locations in recent years, including at a June 11 corporate meeting in Las Vegas. “Baristas can’t pay the rent ... Enjoy your fancy event,” one protestor’s sign read.
The Downtown Disney Starbucks declined to comment for this story.
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