Biggby employees leave Stadium District shop, claim verbal abuse and hostile workplace

LANSING — A Biggby Coffee store in the Stadium District is without much of its staff, after most workers walked out Wednesday because of allegations of mistreatment and a hostile workplace environment.

Six staffers — including the store’s manager, three assistant managers and two baristas — resigned Wednesday from the chain coffee shop, located at 500 E. Michigan Ave. Morgan Kreck, the former store leader, said her decision was the culmination of months of verbal abuse from the franchise’s management staff.

“I’ve been yelled at. I had the office people in my face, screaming and yelling at me. The franchise owner cussed at me over the phone,” Kreck said. “If I ever did anything incorrectly, or it wasn’t the way that they wanted it, it wasn’t a step to the side and having a nice conversation about it, it was screaming in front of everyone and embarrassing me rudely.”

The franchise owner, Mohamed Shetiah, operates about 30 store locations throughout Michigan and Ohio through a Lansing-based management company, American Business Investments. About half of those stores are situated in the Greater Lansing area.

American Business Investments did not respond to an immediate request for comment Friday.

It's unknown whether employees at other ABI-operated shops in the area have reported similar issues or whether the complaints are unique to the Stadium District operation.

Biggby corporate officials said they are aware of the situation at the Stadium District store.

"Biggby Coffee is a franchise organization, and our stores are locally owned and operated," they said in a written statement. "The Biggby Coffee brand is committed to helping all of its franchisees, employees and customers build a life they love."

Kreck said the store has been understaffed since she started working there in November.

According to state data, the Lansing/East Lansing area’s leisure and hospitality sector has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. In March, the local industry had about 16,800 workers, compared with approximately 17,700 in March 2020.

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As sales remained low at the Michigan Avenue store, she said, franchise management grew increasingly frustrated and outwardly aggressive toward her and her employees. Management staff was sent to monitor workers for not making enough sales. ABI also did not provide assistance when she sought it, though, she said.

“I’ve been begging for help for people to come pick up shifts,” Kreck said. “They promised me that they would be here for me if I ever needed help, and then I’m begging for help and I just get pushed to the side.”

The short-staffing sometimes resulted in one person running and closing the business down alone, tasks former assistant manager Ryan Hicks said often required workers to stay longer than management was willing to pay.

Although the workers said they liked their colleagues and regular customers, the difficult working environment was not worth the minimum wage to $14-per-hour pay they were making.

“A lot of the time, it ends up that new people will either not show up for their training … or they’ll show up for their training and leave afterwards, because they realize it’s too much,” Hicks said of new hires.

Jennifer Escobar, a barista and assistant manager who also left the job Wednesday, said she is planning to find a job outside the food service industry.

“I don’t even know how they’re allowed to treat people like that,” Escobar said.

The store’s drive-thru window remained open as of Thursday, but the lobby was closed to customers.

Contact reporter Jared Weber at 517-582-3937 or jtweber@lsj.com.