Workers at three major Southwest eateries have been unionizing over the summer.

Workers at Kim’s, Colita, Café Cerés’ four locations are unionizing with hospitality union UNITE HERE Local 17. Kim’s is owned and operated by James Beard award-winner Chef Ann Kim. Colita and Café Cerés are owned by Daniel del Prado, who was nominated for a James Beard award in 2024.

Workers at Kim’s voted to form a union on June 27. The Uptown restaurant rebranded from Sooki & Mimi in the fall, right when Kaylee Murphy joined the staff as a bartender and server.

Neighborhood jobs

“I was really excited to get this job because I live in Uptown,” Murphy said. Murphy said she was excited to work at Kim’s because Kim draws people into Uptown. “I've seen so much business leave here.”

Murphy’s favorite shift is Sunday nights, when she bartends for mostly a neighborhood crowd.

“I get to meet my neighbors that I wouldn't normally get to meet,” Murphy said.  “Half the staff I work with also live in the neighborhood or in adjacent neighborhoods. We're all part of this community.”

Murphy wants her position to work out at Kim’s, which is why she joined the union effort with Unite Here Local 17.

“When things came to the point where it's like, ‘Oh, I need to go find another job.’ I didn't really want to, because I wanted this to work. And it should work. It should work for everybody,” Murphy said.

Murphy and her fellow front-of-house workers, who are paid an hourly wage, want more consistency in their work schedules. It is common practice for restaurant managers to “cut” servers and bartenders scheduled to work when business is slower, which cuts down on their income.

“If I have a 15-hour week job or a 30-hour week job, it's not something I can plan my life around,” Murphy said. Making up a slow shift with a busy Saturday night in tips is not an option for Kim’s servers and bartenders because Kim’s is a no-tipping establishment.

“What we need to do now is talk to each other, come up with ideas of what we all want to see in our contract with our employer, and then present it to them,” Murphy said.

Kim posted on her private Instagram account in June that she believes her staff "can come together as a Kim's team without a union."

Working for Daniel del Prado’s Café Cerés is the busiest gig Mariam Karkache has had as a barista.

“It's a real job, a skilled job,” Karkache said over the phone on her 10th anniversary in the service industry. Café Cerés’ pastry chef Shawn McKenzie was nominated for a James Beard award in 2023.  

Many workers at the four Café Cerés locations feel they are not fairly compensated for the work they do.

“The wages that we make don't reflect the cost of living currently,” Karkache said. Front-of-house workers at Café Cerés are paid an hourly wage and receive tips.

“We realized unionizing is an option,” Karkache said. Café Cerés workers filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board on June 28. An election date hasn’t yet been set.

Workers at Colita, Café Cerés’ sister restaurant, are voting on Thursday whether to form a union.

Southwest Voices has reached out to Vestalia Hospitality for comment from Ann Kim and Daniel del Prado Restaurant Group for comment from Daniel del Prado and have not heard back as of the publication of this story. We will update this story if and when we hear back.

Community support

Community members wanting to show their support of the workers unionizing have gathered together at Kim’s and Colita. One of the biggest nights of support was when they delivered a letter of union support to Colita’s management on June 29.

“Our commitment to these establishments is also a commitment to the well-being of your employees,” reads the letter signed by 48 Southwest Minneapolis residents. “They are our neighbors, and they support our communities every day. In Southwest, we believe in listening to our neighbors and respecting their wishes. We hope you will reflect the values of our community by doing the same.”

A group of neighborhood leaders also delivered a letter of support to Kim’s management on June 13.

“A lot of people, especially around this neighborhood, really want this neighborhood to do good and be good,” Murphy said in reaction to the community support. “Let's all stand together and make our neighborhood good.”

Karkache said she’s seen community support with the working-class neighbors in Armatage and unionized workers at Minneapolis Public Schools. The support from teachers, she said, has “been really heartwarming.”

“Our community members and the communities really value what we do,” Karkache continued. “They kind of view it as we do. These are quality restaurants. They're great to have in the community. So why not improve them?”