The staff of a Vacaville bagel franchise quit en masse Saturday, alleging that the general manager was wrongfully terminated, announcing their exodus in a short TikTok video that has gone viral.
Approximately 16 employees of Noah’s New York Bagels left in solidarity with their manager, Bre Kowalski, who was allegedly fired earlier in the week. The shop has continued to serve bagels, albeit with a smaller staff.
Kowalski said she had worked at the Vacaville location for 11 months and enjoyed her time there overall, but things changed when a new district manager was brought in. She said the new district manager had come from Panera Bread, which merged with Noah’s parent company Einstein Bros. Bagels in August, and wanted to bring in his former Panera employees to the Noah’s location.
“They tried to get me to transfer, and I declined,” she said.
On a day when Kowalski was not at the store, she said there had been an extra deposit that was not taken to the bank. She claimed this led to her termination, which she learned about after seeing she had been issued a final paycheck in her bank account.
“I feel like this was their way to push me out so he could have his co-workers take over the store,” she said.
Following Kowalski’s termination, her 16 other co-workers resigned Saturday. This was partly captured in a 10-second video captured by former shift lead Beonce Sarmiento, which features the employees walking up to the store with the caption “When the whole team pulls up on the same day to quit.” Sarmineto posted the video to her TikTok page with the caption “Say no to toxic management,” and it has garnered 6.4 million views as of Wednesday.
Kowalski said she was shocked by the employees’ decision, as she did not ask them to quit, but was grateful to see them stand behind her and stand up for themselves.
“I’m proud that they took a stand and made a statement, saying that they’re not replaceable,” she said.
Sarmiento has subsequently used her TikTok page to share more videos on the incident and respond to comments. She said most of the employees already had second jobs, so their incomes were secure.
Kowalski said she was pleased with how much traction the initial video had gotten, emphasizing that Sarmiento’s account did not have a lot of followers beforehand.
“It’s not even like we really had a follower base, and it just kind of blew up out of nowhere,” she said.
Although some commenters have disputed the claims that employees are not replaceable, Kowalski said she and her former staff have gotten a lot of support in the community and beyond.
“It feels good, honestly, to have so much support,” she said.
Kowalski hopes to get another general management job elsewhere. She also defended her staff from critics who said they were “too young” to make such a statement.
“They’re upset that they lost their job, but they’re more upset that they tore our little family apart,” she said. “We were really close. We were a family, and there’s nothing that can replace that.”
Noah’s Bagels is a Berkeley-based chain with 56 locations throughout California, with the Vacaville store opening in the Nut Tree Plaza in 2018. The chain was acquired by Einstein Bros. Bagels in 1996, which merged with Panera Bread last year to form Panera Brands.
The Vacaville location has continued to operate, although an employee said it has had to adjust its hours to account for a lack of staff. This week, the shop is open from 6 a.m. to noon. The employee declined to comment further on the matter.
Noah’s Bagels corporate office did not return requests for comment, although the company did issue a statement to KCRA 3 saying it was looking into the matter.
Source: www.mercurynews.com