A Denver restaurant server is suing her former employer, claiming that management took an unfair cut of her tips while she worked there.
Marianna White filed the damning suit against the Culinary Creative Group Inc. (CCG) – who run a string of Denver restaurants, including Tap and Burger, Forget Me Not, Mister Oso, Señor Bear, and Bar Dough – on February 19, as local outlet Denverite first reported this week.
White formerly worked at Kumoya, a Japanese restaurant owned by CCG in Denver. In the lawsuit, she says that 30% of an automatic 20% service charge went directly to management rather than being shared proportionately with employees.
According to her lawyer, Adam Harrison, the company “assures customers that its ‘service charge’ is distributed ‘equitably among staff’ but then pays a huge portion to MANAGEMENT,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
“Colorado workers, and restaurant workers around the country, have and deserve rights to their wages, to paid rest periods, and to dignity in their work!” Harrison added.
Yet, CCG CEO Juan Padro insisted to CBS Denver that service fees are different from tips.
“Under Colorado law, service fees may be distributed to any employees, including management, at the restaurant’s discretion. All guest checks at CCG establishments clearly disclose that the checks include a 20 percent charge, which is labeled as a ‘service fee’,” he said.
“Our guest checks also include an entirely separate line for guests to leave ‘tips,'” he went on.
According to the suit, CCG took employees’ tips while falsely indicating to customers that the service charge was equitably distributed to staff.
It also alleges that CCG deprived employees of state-mandated paid rest breaks. The suit demands that unpaid wages and compensation be paid regarding the rest periods it claims were not provided.
In White’s former restaurant, Kumoya, Padro revealed that only 10 percent of the service fee is given to management and maintained that no CCG employee was ever deprived of a break.
Two other former employees have now hired Harrison to file similar claims against CCG. Both claim to still be recovering financially from the organization.
Hailey Jamieson, a former worker at the Fox and the Hen, a CCG establishment, told CBS News, “It was like pulling teeth trying to get a break there.”
Faith Lindstrom, another former Kumoya employee, said, “Nobody could tell us where the money was going. Nobody would tell us why we aren’t seeing 20% of the money or of the food that we’re selling.”
In 2024, CCG reportedly slashed front-of-house staff wages by $3, prompting the two women to quit.
CCG insists that the allegations against them “are unfortunate and untrue.”
“Contrary to the false accusations made against our company, we have never misappropriated a single penny of employee tips. All tips collected are distributed to front-of-the-house employees. In addition, all service fee funds collected have been appropriately distributed to our staff,” according to a company statement to CBS.
The Independent contacted CCG and Adam Harrison for comment.
