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Thread: Bikini Baristas

  1. #1
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    Not quite a Breastaurant

    I was trying to come up with a pun mashing up Breast and Barista for my whole commute this morning. Grab-N-Go... . Didn't find any good pics tho...
    Bikini-Clad Baristas Charged With Prostitution After Reportedly Serving More Than Coffee
    Thursday, September 24, 2009

    Five bikini-clad baristas in Everett, Wash., face prostitution charges after police said that they served up more than just hot coffee at an espresso stand, Q13FOX.com reported.

    The five women, employed by Everett's 'Grab-N-Go' espresso stand, have been charged with prostitution and violating the city's Adult Entertainment ordinance, Sergeant Robert Goetz told Q13 FOX News.

    Police reportedly conducted a two month investigation into the bikini-clad baristas' behavior after multiple customers complained. During the probe, police found inappropriate and lewd behavior, Q13FOX.com reported.

    "For extra money these women would expose their entire body. If they were wearing a bikini they would either take it off or at least lower it. There were some allegations... Complaints from our citizens that they were performing whip cream shows between two women," Everett Police Sergeant Robert Goetz told Q13 FOX News.

    In one instance, police responding to an alarm at the coffee shop found a barista with no clothes on, Q13FOX.com reported.

    But Bill Wheeler, the owner of the Grab-N-Go, is defending his business — explaining that the women who work at the espresso stand each sign agreements guaranteeing that they will not behave inappropriately. Wheeler tells Q13 FOX News that the business' policy is strictly enforced and all employees who violate it are terminated immediately.
    Related Stories

    "Any girl caught doing anything illegal will be fired on the spot," Wheeler told Q13 FOX News. "Every girl that works for us knows that our policy states clearly, acceptable attire for work. They must cover their bottoms and use pasties, if necessary," Wheeler said.

    If convicted, the bikini-clad baristas could face a fine of $1,000 and up to 90 days in jail.
    Gene Ching
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  2. #2
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    But those pics aren't of Grab-N-Go

    Here's one, but I'm not sure it's authentic Grab-n-Go



    Apparently there are more bikini baristas...
    Baristas' skimpy outfits under fire
    Published: June 5, 2008 at 12:36 AM

    BONNEY LAKE, Wash., June 5 (UPI) -- Coffee stand owners in Bonney Lake, Wash., are violating city laws by allowing female employees to wear provocative clothing, a city official said.

    City Attorney Jim Dionne said city law prohibits clothing that exposes "any portion of the female breast below the top of the areola" in a commercial location, KIRO-TV, Seattle, reported Wednesday.

    Nudity involving the baristas makes espresso stands -- including Cowgirls Espresso and Hot Chick-a-Latte -- a public nuisance, prohibited by law, the Tacoma News Tribune reported.

    Dionne said the coffee stands have become a problem because of the outfits.

    Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson said he hasn't witnessed any violations since mailing a letter to coffee stand managers more than a week ago.
    Bikini Baristas Making Waves

    A small coffee shop that has a few location in Washington state is making international headlines for a very simple reason - their Baristas wear bikinis. Cowgirls Espresso started as a small independent coffee stand painted like a big cow, but on one hot day that all changed. An employee was allowed to wear a bikini top and business boomed. Bikini Wednesday was born and after that each day was given a new sexy theme. People in towns where these shops do business aren’t too happy, but the employees are loving the work.

    Jessica Bustare, 21, Everett, sat on a bench and waited for a job interview outside the Grab ‘N’ Go on a chilly afternoon early this week. An athletic-looking 19-year-old barista with blonde hair wearing a bikini and flip-flops took a bag of trash out of the shack and tossed it into a garbage bin.
    “I don’t really consider this too sexual,” Bustare said. “I think it’s fun and cute.”
    Leslie Preskitt, 21, a trim, upbeat barista at Cowgirls Espresso near downtown Everett, wore a pink-and-white striped bikini as she worked a silver espresso machine Wednesday afternoon.
    She’s been working at the stand for three months and said she gets twice as much in tips in a day than she did in a full week when she worked at a coffee chain store.
    Baristas at similar stands say they consistently fetch more than $100 a day in tips.
    Gene Ching
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  3. #3
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    The latest on Grab-n-Go

    Remember Grab-n-Go? That's why you came up $80 short this month...
    Published: Friday, March 5, 2010
    Former Everett bikini barista on path to avoid criminal charges
    Prosecutors dropped two prostitution charges, and if she stays out of trouble, other charges will be dismissed.
    By Diana Hefley
    Herald Writer

    EVERETT — A former Everett bikini barista accused of selling sex at a Grab-n-Go espresso stand vowed Thursday morning to stay out of trouble so she can avoid spending time behind bars.

    City prosecutors agreed to stay action in the woman's case for two years. In return, the Kirkland woman, 21, must not commit any new crimes or violate the city's adult entertainment ordinance.

    If she complies with those terms, the city will dismiss two misdemeanor charges against the woman, including operating without an adult entertainment license and violating the standards of conduct of the ordinance.

    As part of the agreement, city prosecutors on Thursday dropped two prostitution charges against the woman.

    Everett Municipal Court Judge Timothy O'Dell warned the woman to toe the line or she'd be brought back into court and likely found guilty of the adult-entertainment violations.

    “I will impose jail time if you don't follow through,” O'Dell said.

    The woman also agreed that she would testify against four other baristas also charged with prostitution and violating city ordinances. So far, only one barista has indicated that she plans to take her case to trial.

    The others are expected to accept deals similar to the one offered the Kirkland woman. All of them are due back in court later this month.

    City deputy prosecutor Leslie Tidball said it isn't uncommon to offer such agreements to people who don't have any previous criminal history.

    “We like to give folks an opportunity to be successful and maintain a clean record — at the same time, we want to put a stop to the conduct affecting the public,” she said.

    The woman's attorney Brian Ashbach of Marysville said he was confident that his client would have been acquitted of the prostitution charges. The other charges would have been more difficult to defend, he said.

    The five baristas were charged after an investigation into complaints of lewd behavior at the stand. Everett detectives reported that the women were exposing their genitals and charging customers up to $80 to touch the baristas' exposed breasts and buttocks.

    News of the investigation and criminal charges against the baristas made national headlines. Pictures of the women, including explicit photographs taken during the police investigation, hit cyberspace.

    O'Dell on Thursday told the Kirkland woman he didn't need to lecture her. All the attention the case has drawn was enough, he said.

    “Hopefully, I won't see you again,” O'Dell said
    Gene Ching
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  4. #4
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    Bikini Baristas in my town!

    And I thought Fremont reached the height of culture when we opened a Hooters.

    [IMG]http://media.nbcbayarea.com/images/410*307/bikinibaristashop2.jpg[/IMG]

    Would You Like Some Coffee With Your Eye Candy?
    By JESSICA GREENE
    Updated 8:45 AM PDT, Mon, Aug 30, 2010

    Something is brewing in Fremont's Warm Springs district -- and it's more than just a hot cup of coffee.

    A new drive-up coffee shop recently opened in the parking lot of a neighborhood shopping center. The new place is called Your Coffee Cups and features bikini-clad baristas serving coffee.

    The menu features "B-, C-, or D-Cup" sizes.

    Some neighbors say the idea is inappropriate and degrades women. But, the owner, Robert Martinez, says, it's a creative way to put his sons through college. He's a general contractor who had been out of work for a year before the idea hit him.

    So far, business is booming. By the second week they were open, they had already pulled in twice the revenue as the previous coffee shop that was there -- Island Java. The baristas make an average of $50 in tips per four-hour shift on top of their $9 an hour salary, our friends at the Mercury News tell us.

    The Pacific-Northwest has become a model of sorts for the scantily clad barista business. Martinez got the idea for his coffee shop from a friend who opened up a similar shop in Oregon. He spent some time in Seattle observing another shop and returned to the Bay Area to open Your Coffee Cups.

    Martinez is aiming to open three more shops over the next two years

    This is not the first time a coffee shop with this kind of theme has percolated in the Bay Area. Several years ago, an East San Jose coffee shop featuring bikini-clad baristas also raised a few eyebrows.
    There's a flash photo gallery on the link below.
    Baristas in bikinis perk up Fremont coffee business
    By Matthew Artz
    Oakland Tribune
    Posted: 08/29/2010 08:11:19 AM PDT

    FREMONT -- There are plenty of coffee shops in Fremont, but those with pretty young women working in bikinis are hard to find.

    That combination is "a gold mine," said Robert Martinez, a formerly out-of-work general contractor who, desperate to help pay his sons' college bills, has opened Your Coffee Cups -- the Bay Area's first bikini barista drive-though coffee business.

    The establishment, in a Warm Springs district strip mall, serves Mr. Espresso coffee in a 16-ounce "C-Cup" for $1.85.

    But the real draw may be the "eye candy" that comes with each purchase, evidenced by the fact that all 22 drive-through customers during a one-hour stretch Thursday morning were men.

    "I'm spoiled," said Ken Lockett, a burly Fremont machinist, just before a barista wearing little more than a bikini top and short shorts asked him, "Is your coffee good?"

    "It's always good," Lockett replied smiling, before leaving a tip.

    Business has been pretty good since Martinez opened the climate-controlled coffee hut last month at 46685 Mission Blvd.

    By the second week, Your Coffee Cups had doubled the revenue of its predecessor, Island Java, said Martinez, who knows the owner of that shop.

    And say what you will about the customers, they are good tippers. The baristas say they make an average of $50 in tips during a four-hour shift -- on top of their $9-per-hour salary.

    "I have more time for myself," said Samantha Dela Cruz, a 21-year-old
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    San Jose State student, who takes home more in four hours at the coffee shop than she did working eight hours a day at a Lowe's home-improvement store.

    Drive-through coffee shops with bikini-clad servers have become popular in the Pacific Northwest, the land that gave the world Starbucks.

    Martinez, whose friend had opened a shop in Oregon, decided to travel to Seattle earlier this year with his fiancee, Irene Mann, to get a firsthand look at the growing fad.

    "They were doing good business," he said. "I thought, why not do it here? I hadn't worked in more than a year. I needed to reinvent myself."

    Martinez drives to the shop from his Castro Valley home every weekday before 5:30 a.m. to brew the first cup of coffee before retreating to his nearby truck where he spends most of the day with an eye on the shop.

    He's hoping to open three more bikini barista establishments in the next two years and, although his first shop is just breaking even, he thinks each of them can eventually net $10,000 to $15,000 a month.

    "It's going to literally go through the roof," he said.

    The shops have encountered some issues in the Northwest. There have been news reports of baristas flashing customers for bigger tips and customers exposing themselves to baristas.

    Martinez and the baristas said none of that has happened at the Fremont shop, which has cameras on the baristas and the drivers.

    "They say 'Hi,' they get their coffee, and they're gone," barista Rosanna Ortiz said. "They don't make you feel like a stripper."

    "It's just like going to the beach," Dela Cruz said. "It's no big deal. We're not putting ourselves out there."

    A few unwitting female customers have voiced their displeasure with the bikini gimmick, a couple of whom decided to take their business elsewhere, said barista Natasha Berg, who studies English at San Francisco State.

    But there is a way to offset the opposition being voiced by some of the women, she said.

    "You have to talk to (them) a little more so they see you're not an idiot in a bikini."
    Gene Ching
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  5. #5
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    ttt 4 2016!

    The kicker here is that Spokane has good coffee.

    Would You Buy Your Coffee From A Topless Barista?
    BY: MARK SHRAYBER 01.18.16



    Good news for all of you living in Washington State. If you haven’t already planned a trip to Spokane, you may just want to take a drive out there. Not just for the beautiful scenery that the Pacific Northwest affords, but for the topless men and women who are serving coffee in drive-thrus across the city. They’re not going to get dirty with you, but as Food Beast points out, those looking for their morning caffeine fix might also just get a little “boobie action.”

    This “boobie action” is the subject of a new video by Zagat (up top) that looks at the growing trend of topless (and sometimes bottomless) baristas and how they’re affecting the areas they live and work in. Is it controversial when a woman serves you a latte while wearing pasties? Absolutely. Are they also making more money than ever before? You bet! And in a world where a Starbucks with fully-clothed coffee artists lurks on every corner, can you really blame businesses that are trying to survive for trying out novel ways of attracting customers?

    Of course, there are the children to consider. As a mom profiled in the video points out, her child was flummoxed after seeing breasts on parade in public one Christmas Eve. How, she wonders, would she explain all that cleavage to her kids? Personally, we’re more concerned about someone in a cold climate going bare-chested during the holidays and catching their death-of-cold.

    Currently, Food Beast points out that that the “bikini baristas” are winning the fight to ban nudity. Now, everyone’s just waiting for the bigger chains to jump in.

    (Via Food Beast)
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  6. #6
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    Pink Pantherz

    Fremont? WTH? We're in FREMONT!!!

    COFFEE 8 hours ago
    California coffee shop's bikini-clad baristas will now wear shorts and tank tops following backlash from community

    By Michael Bartiromo | Fox News

    The owner of Pink Pantherz Espresso announced his newest location will employ baristas in more modest clothing. (Google)

    The bikini-clad baristas at the newest Pink Pantherz Espresso shop near Redwood City, Calif., will be ditching their swimsuits when the café opens on Friday afternoon, albeit in favor of more modest attire.

    Pink Pantherz, which regularly employs scantily-clad female baristas at its locations in Modesto, Fresno and Fremont, has come to an agreement with San Mateo County after meeting with concerned residents near the Redwood City location — and amid threats of protesters planning to march outside the café.


    pinkpantherzespresso1


    675 likes
    pinkpantherzespresso1Good morning! Come see @bridale22 before she’s off at 12pm in Fremont! Grab a wet kiss mocha with white coffee��☕️
    As part of the agreement, the owner of the shop has confirmed the female servers in the new location – which actually sits in a unincorporated part of North Fair Oaks – will wear shorts and tank tops instead of lingerie and bikinis.

    The coffee stand will also rename some of the edgier items on the menu, including its “Bootycall” and “Pantydropper” drinks.

    “[Pink Pantherz is] revisiting drink names and even implementing, for the first time, a more family-friendly dress policy for their baristas,” Pink Pantherz Espresso owner, Jose Carmona, told The Mercury News.

    “We’re surprised [by the backlash] obviously, just because it’s not a new concept, but at the end of the day we’re a company and we can change,” Carmona added.

    Public outcry over the newest Pink Pantherz Espresso location erupted earlier this summer, after residents became aware of the “bikini shop” planning to open on El Camino Real, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
    pinkpantherzespresso1


    690 likes
    pinkpantherzespresso1Good afternoon Modesto!Britany is here till 8 come get a sweet thang before she’s gone!She will be back Thursday 4-10
    In the time since, the San Mateo County received a petition signed by 2,000 people opposed to the shop’s opening, while another Change.org petition gathered 1,500.

    The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors also met with residents to discuss their issues with the baristas’ dress code, which some feared would send the wrong message to schoolchildren passing by.

    While Friday afternoon's protest was canceled after the announcement, some still plan on marching as “a celebration of the power of community,” Sister Christina Heltsley told the Mercury News.

    “The young women that are [employed by Pink Pantherz] have their reasons [but] it feels like we’ve made so many steps forward and this is going backward.”

    County officials are also pleased with Carmona’s decision, but admitted the “distasteful” attire of the baristas was not technically violating any rules.

    Bottoms Up Espresso is planning to open up a new location in Chico, Calif., but the idea appears to have residents hot and bothered - and not in the way the owners likely intended.
    Pink Pantherz Espresso's opening in the summer came weeks after a similar California chain, Bottoms Up Espresso, began getting backlash over its new location in Chico.
    THREADS
    Breastaurants
    Coffee?

    Shoot, those pix aren't copying...
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  7. #7
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    On anal clefts

    When you learn a new term like 'anal cleft', it's time to split Bikini Baristas off into its own indie thread from Breastaurants.

    A sign of the times.

    COFFEEPublished 20 hours agoLast Update 14 hours ago
    Bikini baristas appeal city ordinance issuing dress code
    By Alexandra Deabler | Fox News

    Bikini baristas appeal city ordinance issuing dress code

    How much “anal cleft” is one allow to show while at work? That’s the question one Washington court is trying to answer.

    A U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing an ongoing legal saga between bikini baristas and the city of Everett over the anatomical phrase “anal cleft” and whether dress codes imposed on businesses violate their civil rights.

    Both sides appeared in court Monday to further argue the city’s ordinance, which was passed August 2017, that restricts what employees of “quick-service” restaurants wear by requiring that the “bottom one-half of the anal cleft” be covered, Herald Net reported.

    According to the ordinance, employees who work at fast food restaurants, food trucks and coffee stands are required to wear at least a tank top and shorts while at work.


    Employees are required to wear at least a tank top and shorts. (City of Everett)

    U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman approved the injunction during litigation, ruling the ordinance likely violates the bikini baristas’ First and 14th Amendment rights.

    “The term ‘bottom one-half of the anal cleft’ is not well-defined or reasonably understandable, and the ordinances otherwise fail to provide clear guidance and raise risks of arbitrary enforcement. The court finds that the dress code ordinance likely violates plaintiffs’ right to free expression under the First Amendment,” Pechman wrote in the injunction order, Courthouse News reported.

    Jovanna Edge, owner of Hillbilly Hotties, one of several bikini barista coffee shops involved in the suit, and attorney Melinda Ebelhar argued that the order was intentionally vague and would be too difficult to enforce.

    Ebelhar claimed it would take “advanced math” to figure out whether the bottom half of the anal cleft was exposed.

    U.S. Circuit Judge Morgan Christen seemed to agree, asking, “How can law enforcement determine where the bottom half is and measure it?” Courthouse News reported.

    Assistant city attorney Ramsey Ramerman disagreed with the questioning, saying that the legislation was specifically worded and argued that Edge understood what the new dress code law allowed.

    Ramerman argued it was the city’s responsibility to combat prostitution or illegal sexual activity – messages he claimed the bikini barista coffee stand was sending.

    Judge Sandra Ikuta agreed, stating she was concerned customers would see the women working as saying: “I am sexually available,” the Herald Net reported.

    According to the publication, Ebelhar defended the baristas' choice of outfits as personal expression, female empowerment and a form of body positivity.

    “The message they are sending is this is not your mother’s coffee stand,” she said.

    A final ruling has not yet been reported.

    Alexandra Deabler is a Lifestyle writer and editor for Fox News.
    Man, whaddya gotta do to get a cup of coffee here?
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  8. #8
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    revoked


    ‘Bikini Cafe’ Not Suited for Napa, Ordered Closed

    Napa County strip mall cafe deemed too much like a strip club, and its city council has revoked the business license of Bottoms Up Cafe.
    Joe Kukura Fri Mar 8th, 2019 1:38pm


    Image: Bottoms Up Espresso, Facebook

    This is not a story we expected to report on International Women’s Day, but here we are. A chain of “bikini barista” cafes is spreading across California, but the Napa County city of American Canyon is grinding one of these coffee shops to a halt. The Napa Valley Register reports the American Canyon city council has revoked the business license of Bottoms Up Espresso, a drive-through coffee kiosk whose primary appeal is its employment of scantily clad women baristas.

    That Napa County kiosk is not the only Bottoms Up Espresso, there are nine franchise locations in California. According to the Chronicle, a similar chain called Pink Pantherz Espresso is operating at five locations in northern California, including Redwood City. So baristas in thongs are becoming a thing.

    But not in American Canyon, where city council roasted the cafe and unanimously demanded it close. “Let’s call it what it is — adult entertainment,” councilperson David Oro said before Tuesday’s vote. American Canyon city code does not allow for adult-entertainment businesses.

    A cursory look at Bottoms Up Espresso’s Instagram and Yelp pages (Google them yourself, perv) shows that it’s not so much a “bikini cafe” as it as an “underwear and ****ty costumes cafe.” The menu features beverages with names like Sweet Cheeks, Blonde Bombshell, The Big O, and Screamer. Their job application page requires candidates to upload a photo.

    Bottoms Up Espresso’s attorney Ralph Andino argued that the staff’s racy apparel is not illegal to wear in public, so the cafe should be allowed to operate. “Any person can wear any time the attire complained of by the city manager,” Andino wrote to the council. “This is not only a violation of a constitutionally protected free speech right, but of due process as well.”

    City manager Jason Holley had complained to the council that Bottoms Up Espresso showed “a clear intention for female employees to prominently display specific anatomical areas while they perform acts of food and beverage preparation.”

    According to the Chronicle, the Pink Pantherz Espresso in Redwood City adopted a more modest dress code in a compromise move to remain open. Bottoms Up Espresso has announced plans to expand into Arizona, so they’re undaunted by the negative response. These bikini cafes are clearly using women’s bodies as a selling point, which may be skirting the rules around adult entertainment.
    This could probably use a better photo...
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  9. #9
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    I can't help but notice that there are zero photos of Baristas in Bikinis here in this whole thread.
    To that I say Bah! Bah Humbug!
    Kung Fu is good for you.

  10. #10
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    That sounds like a challenge there, DJ

    Quote Originally Posted by David Jamieson View Post
    I can't help but notice that there are zero photos of Baristas in Bikinis here in this whole thread.
    To that I say Bah! Bah Humbug!
    We can fix that easily enough.

    THESE BIKINI BARISTAS CAN KEEP THEIR CLOTHES OFF WHILE SERVING COFFEE, SAYS A FEDERAL JUDGE
    God bless America.
    MAXIM STAFF DEC 5, 2017


    (Screengrab)

    The bikini baristas of Everett, Washington can continue serving piping-hot cups of joe in a barely-clothed state, according to a federal judge.

    On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman ruled in favor of seven baristas, who, along with the owner of a chain of coffee stands called "Hillbilly Hotties," had sued the city for enforcing ordinances that prohibit employees from being nearly naked on the job.

    Pechman extended an injunction that blocks the ordinances while the baristas' case moves through court, allowing for the bikini-clad businesses to continue operations as usual.

    The New York Post has further details:

    Pechman wrote that the ordinances — one that attempted to impose a dress code and another that redefined lewd conduct in the city — are likely void for vagueness under the Fourteenth Amendment.

    Pechman also found the dress code ordinance likely violated First Amendment protections of freedom of expression.

    The decision is a win for owners and employees of the many bikini coffee stands in the Everett area.

    God Bless America.
    Gene Ching
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  11. #11
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    Hillbilly Hotties emmpowerment

    "a message of female empowerment and confidence by working nearly naked."
    War is peace
    Freedom is slavery
    Ignorance is strength
    Resistance is futile


    Lawyer: Court’s ‘Bikini Barista’ Ruling Tells Women They ‘Must Be Protected from Themselves’

    by Jerry Lambe | 11:43 am, July 6th, 2019



    The bikini-clad baristas that have been serving Seattle-area drive-thrus in racy attire may have to cover up as a result of a federal appellate court’s recent decision.

    A three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday unanimously overturned U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman’s 2017 ruling which granted an injunction on the city dress code ordinance requiring workers at “quick-serve facilities” to wear a minimum of a tank top and shorts. Pechman’s injunction was originally issued on constitutional grounds, ruling that the ordinances violated First and Fourteenth Amendment protections.

    The ruling by the San Francisco-based court came in a case brought by the owner of “Hillbilly Hotties,” a bikini barista chain, and seven female employees who argued that they were sending a message of female empowerment and confidence by working nearly naked.

    In lifting the injunction Wednesday, the court said the dress-code and lewd-conduct laws were sufficiently clear and that any message of female empowerment the women intended to send would be lost on their customers. The panel held that plaintiffs did not show a likelihood of success on the merits of their two Fourteenth Amendment void-for-vagueness challenges, nor on their First Amendment free expression claim.

    The women’s “attire is significantly more revealing than a typical bikini,” the court noted, because some employees wear little more than pasties over their breasts and g-strings.

    Writing for the court, Circuit Judge Morgan Christen, appointed to the court by President Barack Obama, disagreed that the city’s dress code was too vague.

    “All an officer must determine is whether the upper body (specifically, the breast/pectorals, stomach, back below the shoulder blades) and lower body (the buttocks, top three inches of legs below the buttocks, pubic area and genitals) are covered,” Christen wrote. “A person of ordinary intelligence reading the ordinance in its entirety will be adequately informed about what body areas cannot be exposed or displayed.”

    Morgan was joined in the decision by Judge Sandra S. Ikuta, appointed by President George W. Bush, and Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves, also an Obama appointee.

    Melinda Ebelhar, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said her clients may request that the full appellate court hear their appeal.

    “The baristas are seeking to exercise their right to choose their work clothing,” she said in a statement to CNN. “The baristas sought to express positive messages of body confidence and female empowerment. This decision effectively tells women that the female body must be covered up and hidden, and that women must be protected from themselves.”

    Bikini barista stands have operated in and around Everett since at least 2009, the court said.

    [image via ABC News screengrab]
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  12. #12
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    Dreamboyz

    There's an embedded vid but no pix to be copy&pasted.

    Bikini baristas were bad for business. So a Seattle coffee kiosk switched to ‘hunky’ shirtless men.
    This ad will end in 3 seconds

    Dreamboyz Espresso, a new male alternative to “bikini barista” shops, which feature scantily clad baristas, opened in Seattle on Sept. 13. (Drea Cornejo/The Washington Post)
    By
    Antonia Noori Farzan
    September 19, 2019 at 2:49 a.m. PDT

    Two years ago, as he watched drive-through coffee shacks staffed by scantily clad “bikini baristas” pop up all over the Pacific Northwest, Ja’shaun Williams came up an idea for a business. It would be called “Bro-kini Espresso,” and shirtless men would be the ones donning revealing swimwear and slinging piping-hot drinks.

    As it turned out, someone beat him to it. But when Williams saw the help-wanted ad from a new Seattle coffee stand that needed men to steam milk and pour espresso shots while dressed in nothing more than tiny shorts and a bow tie, he decided to apply anyway. On Friday, he became one of the first two topless male baristas at Dreamboyz Espresso, whose tagline, “Hot Guys Serving Hot Coffee,” aptly sums up its business strategy.

    “It’s going to make history,” Williams told KING 5.

    Twenty-five miles north, in Everett, Wash., city officials have waged war on bikini baristas, leading to a bitter legal battle so acrimonious that one stand put up a sign accusing the city of being “more worried about bikinis than drugs and our homeless crisis.” In Seattle, though, shirtless male baristas with washboard abs and bulging biceps are getting a friendly reception.

    Male and female customers alike told KIRO 7 that the baristas were “hunky,” “just adorable,” and “very good-looking young men,” and that it was nice to see men stripping down for a change.

    “I definitely like the idea of having equality with it now,” Brandon Peters, one of the stand’s Dreamboyz, told the station. “So now there’s male stands and female stands, you know?"

    Ladybug Espresso, a bikini barista chain with dozens of locations in Oregon and Washington state, previously occupied the cramped stand in the heart of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. But business was slow. The market for hot coffee served by nearly naked women apparently wasn’t what it had seemed.

    “We tried to do the bikini thing but unfortunately it just didn’t work,” a representative for the chain told neighborhood blog Capitol Hill Seattle, “even though there wasn’t any competition in a direct radius.”

    That could have had something to do with the fact that Capitol Hill has long been considered Seattle’s “gayborhood.” Though rising rents, fast-paced gentrification, and the city’s tech boom have led to an exodus of LGBTQ residents in recent years, the neighborhood still has the largest concentration of gay bars in the city, according to KCTS.

    Customers kept telling the chain’s owners that they should just have topless men with six-pack abs serve the coffee instead, KIRO 7 reported. Eventually, business got so bad that they decided to give it a go, drawing up a new logo of a brawny man flexing in a steaming cup of coffee, and, starting on Friday, packing the tiny grab-and-go kiosk with strapping young men. Soon, customers were lining up. When reporters stopped by just days after the soft opening, they discovered that one couple in line had driven 90 miles from Bellingham, Wash.

    One Capitol Hill resident, Jacob Haeger, told KIRO 7 that the concept of bikini baristas felt “like something from a bygone era” and that he didn’t think it had any place in today’s society. But seeing a coffee stand staffed with bare-chested men, he said, was “a lot of fun.”

    “I’ve never seen anything like it and I was like yeah, hell yeah, this is Capitol Hill,” he said. “Bring it on.”

    Though Seattle may be best known as the birthplace of Starbucks, the city is also responsible for introducing the concept of bikini and lingerie-clad baristas to the general public. According to Thrillist, the phenomenon took root in the 1990s and eventually spread to other parts of the country. But it remains predominantly concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, where luridly colored coffee shacks with names like “Java Jigglers” and “Sweet Cheeks Espresso” are can reliably be found near busy intersections and in strip mall parking lots.

    “The appeal of bikini coffee in the Pacific Northwest is perhaps obvious to anyone who has lived through the region’s relentlessly gray, SAD-inducing winters,” Thrillist noted. “Also to anyone who has spent some quality time on the area’s blustery beaches, where bikinis are about as common as sunshine. Which is to say: not very.”

    But the drive-through huts have been controversial. In 2009, police in Everett, Wash, charged a number of bikini baristas with prostitution and indecent exposure after an extensive sting operation, which later led the city council to declare that there had been a “proliferation of crimes of a sexual nature” at the stands. As The Washington Post’s Samantha Schmidt reported, the city subsequently passed ordinances banning employees at “quick service” restaurants from exposing their midriffs, breasts and the top three inches of their thighs.

    In 2017, a group of bikini baristas and the owner of a chain called “Hillbilly Hotties” sued, claiming the city was violating their constitutional rights to express themselves through their clothing, and had unfairly targeted women. By forcing them to wear tank tops and shorts, they argued, city officials were preventing them from making a living.

    Two years later, both sides refuse to back down. In August, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous ruling that had blocked the city from enforcing the ban, which meant the case was sent back to U.S. District Court, the Seattle Times reported. The paper calculated the city has spent nearly $300,000 on litigating the attire of bikini baristas so far.

    Williams had a different response to seeing the trend take off. “I felt like, why can women do it but men can’t?” he told KIRO 7.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  13. #13
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    Goddess Briq House

    Goddess Briq House Raises Funds for an Inclusive, Black-Owned Bikini Barista Stand
    by Mark Van Streefkerk • Apr 19, 2021 at 9:30 am

    Goddess Briq House wants to challenge the stereotypes of bikini barista stands and create job opportunities for BIPOC, queer, trans, and disabled folks along the way. PHOTO BY JUSTICE LATRIECE

    Erotic entrepreneur, educator, and award-winning burlesque performer Goddess Briq House has wanted to start a bikini coffee stand franchise for years. The executive producer of Quink Social Club and Sunday Night Shuga Shaq, the only all-BIPOC burlesque revue in the Pacific Northwest, wanted to challenge the stereotypes of a bikini barista stand and create opportunity for her communities in the process. Now, thanks to some divinely inspired alignment, the vision is closer than ever. Goddess has secured a coffee trailer, and she just needs some more funding to make it happen. A GoFundMe campaign was launched for the business at the end of March, and so far has collected over $3,800 of the $18k goal.

    Briq’s interest in starting a bikini coffee business came about naturally. She typically frequented bikini coffee stands to support the workers, but one thing was glaringly obvious: “I never saw anyone who looked anything like me or any of the people I love, and that was sad to me,” she said. “ I just realized it’s a completely missed opportunity. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to drive through a bikini barista stand and see folks of all types of ability, of all types of shapes, of all types of sizes, of all types of shades, there’s no reason why that’s not happening. Other than of course it’s not the goal or priority of folks in ownership.”

    Challenging the norms of who has access to bikini coffee work—notably white, thin, and able-bodied women—Briq is carving out employment opportunities where BIPOC, queer, trans, and disabled people can serve coffee, and have their bikini- or lingerie-clad bodies celebrated at the same time. Additionally, sex-based workers have been put in impossible situations during the pandemic, Briq explained. A lot of these workers weren’t able to apply for unemployment or government assistance.

    “My people are suffering. I am suffering. Right now it’s all about creating a pandemic-proof business so that regardless of what happens, what phase we’re in, whatever’s going on, me and my community will always be cared for and provided for,” she said. “This is about financial security . . . this is about giving folks lots of skills and setting everyone up for success.”

    Goddess Briq House is raising funds to launch a bikini barista stand, one inclusive of all bodies, genders, and identities.
    Having already secured a coffee trailer, Goddess Briq House's GoFundMe campaign will help cover the costs of additional equipment, licensing, and training. PHOTO BY JUSTICE LATRIECE

    There was an influx of sex-based workers at bikini coffee stands during the pandemic, said Sam I’Am, a performance artist with a background in sex work and drag, who made the same career change. “It was just an easy transition for all of us strippers who are wearing bikinis all day anyway to learn how to serve coffee,” they said.
    Working at a cisgender- and hetero-owned bikini coffee stand requires a certain kind of presentation, one that the owners determine. As a nonbinary person, Sam had to edit their identity to fit the job. They wore pasties, concealed their top surgery scars, and covered up a “they/them” tattoo. Dreaming about launching their own bikini coffee trailer where they could be fully themselves, Sam eventually purchased a Cargo Mate trailer last November. The trailer had been used as a coffee stand in a previous incarnation, and the build-out would be minimal.

    Goddess shared queer and kink-positive communities with Sam, and at an event in February congratulated them on the trailer acquisition, sharing her own vision of starting a bikini coffee business. The conversation was filled with mutual admiration and support.

    Sam’s plan changed, however, when a change in family structure necessitated their moving to California. Around that time, Briq reached out to Sam to see if Sam’s tiny home would make a suitable coffee stand. The tiny home wouldn't, but the Cargo Mate would.

    “I was like, ‘Oh my god I forgot, but I’m actually selling that bikini stand, would you want to buy it?’ It was just perfection,” Sam remembered. “I wanted to see this dream come alive that a bikini barista stand could exist that was inclusive of identities and bodies and genders.”

    What Briq had been manifesting for years was given a tremendous jump-start with Sam offering a low-barrier payment plan as well as business counsel and mentorship. While the trailer has most of the features needed for an espresso stand, like a service window and barn-style door, some retrofitting is in order. The GoFundMe campaign will help cover these additions and purchase necessary essentials like a generator, refrigerator, and an espresso machine. Briq also wants to provide coffee training and education for herself and her staff.

    In addition to equipment, retrofitting, licensing, and education, funds will also be invested in security as well as legal counsel. Sam was quick to point out that a bikini barista stand can be a tricky business to operate depending on where it is. (“There’s the law, and there’s the Karen Law,” they pointed out, referencing a recent lawsuit against an Everett bikini coffee company.)


    Briq House for The Stranger's 2019 Queer Issue. STEVEN MILLER

    Once the work on the trailer is complete, Briq would love to have a home base, and the ability to travel for festivals or events as the city begins to reopen, adding that it would be a dream come true to vend outside of Storm games. Goddess also intends to sell only ethically sourced coffee and food from BIPOC-owned companies. Her vision of challenging the typical ideas about what a bikini coffee stand can be while employing her community has given her hope in a year of dismal outcomes for performers. “Creating these opportunities for my community, that’s what’s going to pull me through,” she said.

    People who donate to or share the GoFundMe campaign will “be creating a safe space, a beautiful space, and a sacred space. Their investments will not be forgotten. They will definitely be rewarded and appreciated,” Briq affirmed.

    Donate to and share the GoFundMe here.
    They got $10K+ to go...
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  14. #14
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    Fight!


    Published 12:20 16 Jun 2024 GMT+1
    Bikini barista gets controversial revenge after angry customer throws coffee at her
    The customer threw both a coffee and a cup of water at the barista
    Lucy Devine

    A barista has divided opinion online after taking revenge on a customer who threw his drinks at her.
    Emma Lee, 23, who owns a Taste of Heaven Bikini Espresso in Seattle, had been serving a regular customer earlier this week when they had a disagreement over the price.
    Emma explained that the order - which consisted of a 32 oz coffee and a 24 oz water - came to $22 (£17).
    For reference, the average standard coffee is 12 oz.
    Emma said that she often charges the man just $20, but this time, he insisted on paying less.
    "You don’t get to name your own price," she told Fox 13.
    "No one is forcing you to come here. The argument that he didn't know or was scammed doesn’t hold up. The prices are listed."
    Footage released of the incident shows the pair debating the price, before the argument begins to escalate.
    The man seems to be asking for $5 change from his $20.
    Emma can be heard saying: "There is no $5 - you got two drinks that is not how this works."
    He then replied: "Keep the $15 give me $5... put it back whatever it was."


    Emma and the customer had a disagreement over the price. (Fox 13)
    The situation becomes even more tense, with the man stepping out of the car and telling her: "Nobody is going to miss you."
    He can then be seen holding both of the drinks before removing each lid and chucking them at the counter.
    "It was a threat after screaming, spitting, and trying to pry open the window, I felt in danger," she said.
    Moments later, Emma appeared with a hammer and smashed the windscreen of the man's car.
    She added: "It's OK for him to be outraged about the price of his drinks, enough to assault me, but it's not appropriate for me to respond?"
    The police were called to the incident and Emma has since filed charges for misdemeanour assault.

    Emma can be seen smashing the windscreen. (Instagram/@emmxxss)
    While the man is now banned from Emma's coffee stand, he could technically take her to court for his damaged windshield.
    Over on Instagram, Emma spoke about the 'real issue' at play.
    She said: "I want to take a moment to address the real issue here. The safety of women, more specifically those that are disproportionately less protected.
    "We work alone in this industry, wearing nearly nothing and interacting with men (most of which we don’t know) all day.
    "The majority of people we meet throughout our shifts are kind, respectful, overall amazing humans!
    "However, on occasion we see the ones that think it is appropriate to get violent both verbally and physically."
    Some people watching the video have been critical of Emma, and her decision to smash the windshield.
    But the majority have been hugely supportive, with one lawyer even offering to represent her for free if necessary.
    Another said: "I’m so glad you stood up for not only yourself but all of us girlies in the industry!! We deal with this on a daily basis! Hopefully others will learn from this interaction."
    He drew 'first blood' by throwing coffee. That's a full on attack.

    I guess I'm glad that bikini baristas have not been cancelled?
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  15. #15
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    Ladybug Espresso busted

    Seattle-Area Bikini Barista Chain Owner Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud
    Daily Coffee News Staff | September 5, 2024



    The owner of a chain of Seattle-area bikini barista coffee stands pleaded guilty last week to tax fraud and faces up to three years in prison.

    In a plea agreement, 47-year-old Assad Baragzai of Auburn, Washington, admitted that between 2016 and 2020, he failed to report as much as $6 million worth of income on his tax returns, according to investigators.

    Baragzai, who owns a string of coffee stands in Washington State under the name Ladybug Espresso, is the second defendant to enter a guilty plea in the investigation. His brother-in-law, Rajesh Mathew of Auburn, also pleaded guilty to tax fraud.

    Prosecutors say Matthew also “underreported a substantial amount of income over a period of several years.” Matthew’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 9, while Baragzai’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 18.



    The case has been investigated by an IRS unit and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Dion.

    The government contends that the tax loss over the five years that Baragzai underreported his income is more than $1.7 million. Bargzai disputes the figure, and instead claims the tax loss to be $1.3 million. A judge will determine the actual tax loss during sentencing.

    “Both Baragzai and Mathew have agreed to make restitution to the Internal Revenue Service,” the United States Attorney’s office for the Western District of Washington said in an announcement of the plea deal. “Both may also face additional civil penalties, fines, and interest for the tax loss.”
    This news story fails in regards to pix.

    LADYBUG ESPRESSO
    BEAUTIFUL LADIES SERVING BEAUTIFUL COFFEE

    Kickstart your morning with our Beautiful Baristas serving Beautiful Coffee!

    So does their website.

    Their IG delivers, but I can't embed those here easily. https://www.instagram.com/p/C_f3E7WP...en&img_index=1

    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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