Corey Blair was absolutely floored to land a job at Casa Bonita. The career bartender grew up in Denver, and his family brought him to the West Colfax landmark long before South Park introduced the world to the quirky, immersive space.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the show, had purchased the restaurant after COVID shut it down and its former owners filed for bankruptcy. Coloradans, along with people all over the country, marveled at the rebirth with anticipation.
And Blair rode that wave of excitement.
"That first walkthrough on the first day, I was literally like a kid in the candy store," he told us. "It was so exciting. Everything is awesome in there. They've done a fantastic job with the whole renovation. They've done a fantastic job with the food."
But the nostalgia and hype didn't last long. The restaurant, originally slated to open in May, has languished in an extended "soft open" phase, which has limited employee hours. Management also changed employees' pay structures, cutting out all tips and opting instead for hourly wages.
Between that pressure and what Blair described as a general lack of transparency from his higher-ups, people have begun to leave and some of those who remain have begun to organize. On July 12th, members of the newly formed "WeAreTeamCasa" group issued a letter to management. They demanded clarity on the timeline for a full opening; a change in pay structure; a "direct line of communication" between staff and managers; and the opportunity for fired workers - who they say were let go for not signing a revised contract - to get their jobs back.
"It's frustrating to see us have to go this route, with the way that employees are being paid and the suffocation of the lack of hours," Blair said.
Blair was one of 50-ish bartenders hired last spring. Casa Bonita currently has 50 open bartender positions.
When he first got the job, Blair said he was promised minimum wage, plus tips, a standard deal for front-of-house restaurant workers. That was more or less his arrangement at the 16th Street Mall Hard Rock Cafe, which pays enough to keep his bills covered before it permanently closes. He said some colleagues quit jobs to be available for Casa Bonita.
"They wanted us to be there full-time, 40 hours a week. 'We're gonna be so busy that you're not gonna know what to do with yourself.' And we were all excited," he said. "So everybody, a lot of people, tried to make it work."
He said he and his new colleagues knew they'd have to wait through a warm-up period until they could really make their bread, but they never expected it to last so long.
"We were all comfortable with understanding that it was going to be a slow, soft opening," he told us. "It's coming onto two and a half, three months."
Then, late last month, managers called everyone into a meeting, asking they sign new contracts to fundamentally alter how they were paid. Management cut out tips completely - even taking the option off of credit card receipts, Blair said - and issued new hourly wages for everyone.
Rachel Lane, Blair's colleague behind the bar, said Casa Bonita is still hiring because they lost staffers during the sudden shift.
"They sit us down, and they forcibly made us sign this contract and said, 'If you have a problem with it here's the door,'" she recalled. "A lot of people, they realized, 'I'm getting scheduled 14 hours a week, and that comes out to about a $300 check, once a week after taxes.' And, you know, this is Denver. We can't live on that. So a lot of people went and got new jobs."
She said some of her coworkers were fired for not signing the contract. She said some didn't sign simply because they had missed the meeting.
As of Thursday, Casa Bonita had 339 positions listed on their website, all but one paid with hourly wages. Their site says they have open spots for 68 prep cooks, 61 cooks, 50 bartenders and 39 hosts. Bartending jobs are now listed at $30 an hour. Cooks can make between $18 and $23 an hour. Prep cooks can earn between $17.27 and $19 an hour.
While Blair and Lane are upset about losing lucrative tips, limited hours have become a more immediate concern.
In this ongoing soft open, Casa Bonita is only accessible to guests who are on an email list and who also win a lottery for a meal ticket. It was only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until last weekend, when Blair said they opened their first lunch slot.
Casa Bonita's website advertises medical, dental and vision insurance for full-time employees. But Blair said they need to work 30 hours a week to access these benefits, and so far they haven't gotten close.
And while the restaurant is fielding guests, Blair said he still hasn't seen a full dinner rush. Each day, when he starts his shift, he asks how many customers are booked for the evening. It's always about 900 people, a third of what he said he and his colleagues should be serving during a five hour dinner rush. Both he and Lane said they have no idea why the period of limited access has lasted so long.
"I think that there was a little bit of a holdup with the speed at which the kitchen was working for a little while, but it seems like it's go time now," Lane said. "If they hadn't made the decisions that they did, then we would be absolutely fully staffed to be open from 11 [a.m.] to 11 [p.m.], like they said they were going to be."
Lane, who is also a career bartender, said she's dealt with all kinds of bad treatment at work, but this one has hit differently.
"I've definitely faced every sort of oppression going through it, just being treated like you don't matter," she said "But it's never been such a heavy impact on me financially, you know? You can deal with a certain level of BS if you're collecting a good paycheck that gets all of your bills paid. But if you're not getting any sort of respect or being heard and you're not getting paid well, that's just a whole 'nother situation in itself."
Parker and Stone recently gave an interview to 5280, telling the magazine they were excited for their new venture despite that "on paper, it's a very, very bad idea."
"Only people as rich and silly as Trey and I would do this," Stone told them. "This is definitely an indulgence. We want to do it for the state of Colorado."
Blair said he doubts the duo have much input on the day-to-day operation. We tried to get in touch with Parker and Stone, leaving messages with their agents and Parker's dad - we'll let you know if they get in touch.
In the meantime, Casa Bonita's management, which is accessible only through their representatives at Feed Media public relations, sent only a short statement that they strive "to create the best working environment for its employees" and "will continue to make ourselves available" to talk to employees about their concerns. Their representatives did not confirm that there were already positions to replace, nor did they explain why they changed their pay structure.
On Friday, Casa Bonita's PR representatives shared a memo that was sent to staff.
It says management is prioritizing "opening well, not fast," and that the slow pace to a full open is to ensure they do not "make promises to customers or staff that we cannot fulfill."
The memo also says that guests were not tipping during the last few months of their soft open.
"In an effort to ensure fair compensation for our staff, we increased the hourly wage for all of our service staff," they wrote, in addition to removing tips altogether.
"Staff members are encouraged to share concerns directly with management and have multiple venues to express opinions, both individually and collectively," management wrote. "We are delighted by what the Casa Bonita team has accomplished so far, and we remain enthusiastic about what the future holds."
Blair said he hasn't heard much more than what he knew, and that none of his managers responded to WeAreTeamCasa's letter. He might understand if anyone told him and his colleagues anything, he added.
"I want to see a resolution that works for all parties involved. I feel like, right now, management is just trying to hold their cards close, and they're not wanting to disclose certain information, or maybe they don't even have the information, or - I'm not sure. But it really boils down to communication and understanding," he told us.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct that Corey Blair still works at the Hard Rock Cafe, and has been otherwise updated since original publication. And it has been updated with details of a memo shared with Casa Bonita staff.
