Employees at Ceremony’s two locations are seeking unionization.
Sixteen baristas, prep cooks and tea and coffee specialists at the local cafe enterprise are seeking higher base wages, paid sick leave and improved working conditions, employees and organizers told The Herald.
The teahouse’s employees petitioned on Monday for an election to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, according to public filings. The employees delivered a formal notice to Ceremony leadership that same day, asking for union recognition.
“We are committed to fostering an open and supportive workplace, and if unionizing is ultimately the direction our team wants to take, we will respect and support that decision,” Michelle Cheng, owner of Ceremony, wrote in an email to The Herald.
Ceremony employees approached Local 328, a local branch of the larger UFCW union, because they decided that “the only way” to implement changes they wanted to see at Ceremony was “coming together and forming a union,” said Jaime Parejo, a union organizer for the Local 328 chapter.
An employee first contacted Local 328 in early January, Parejo added.
Since receiving notice of the unionization plans, Cheng wrote that her priority is ensuring employees “have access to all the necessary information — such as union fees, mandatory participation and the impact on direct communication between employees and ownership — so they can make the most informed decision for themselves.”
“We just want people to be paid fairly,” said coffee specialist Michael Levesque. “Because people love working there. They value it a lot.”
Margo Benzuly, a lead barista at Ceremony, said the employees are “really just hoping for better treatment.”
“We deserve to be paid more than what we are currently being paid hourly,” Benzuly added.
Ceremony workers are classified as tipped employees and are given a baseline wage of $9/hour which is supplemented by tips, according to Brian Barr, a barista at the teahouse.
But the cafe’s compensation structure is “standard in this industry,” Cheng wrote. Using this model, she estimates total compensation to be “significantly higher” than the state’s minimum wage — $15/hour.
In an interview with The Herald, Levesque said he estimates that total compensation falls around $18/hour for most workers paid at the lowest base rate.
Employees are guaranteed minimum wage, Cheng said, and the payment structure is “designed with growth in mind.” The company offers a “clear growth path” with automatic pay raises at the three-month and one-year marks, she added.
“We believe that when our employees demonstrate reliability and are team-oriented, they should be rewarded accordingly,” Cheng wrote.
Ceremony does not offer employees sick leave, Barr said. He said he missed work due to sickness this winter and “just had to eat those three days.”
It is “not typical for small businesses like ours to offer paid sick leave for employees,” Cheng wrote to The Herald.
But the company aims to “invest in our employees’ futures, and we aim to reward those who are dedicated and show potential for growth,” Cheng wrote, adding that Ceremony offers all workers 401(k) packages, free acupuncture and in-store discounts.
Some employees also expressed concerns about management’s receptiveness to feedback.
“Every time someone went to management about anything, whether it was a small problem, a big problem, our concerns were brushed under the rug,” Benzuly claimed.
When it comes to complaints, “we maintain an open-door policy with all employees,” Cheng wrote. She added that the management team conducts regular performance reviews and check-ins and makes themselves available to their team. Cheng also said that the cafe plans to host a “town hall-style meeting where employees can speak freely without judgment or fear of pushback.”
The tea shop’s first location opened on Thayer Street in 2019. It relocated to Euclid Avenue following a month-long closure in 2021, and opened its second location in the lobby of Brown’s School of Public Health building on South Main Street in April 2024.
“Most of us really enjoy our jobs here, and we want to continue working with Ceremony,” Benzuly said.
“It’s important that us working at Ceremony are being treated fairly,” said James Dewanto, a barista at Ceremony’s South Main Street location.
Cheng expressed that she “fully supports” her employees’ right to unionize. But “what I don’t support is the way this situation is unfolding,” she said.
“As a young, small, immigrant-owned business, I am doing my best to handle this responsibly,” Cheng added.
If the employees decide to continue pursuing unionization and are not voluntarily recognized by Ceremony, the National Labor Relations Board would likely facilitate an election where employees would be able to vote whether to join Local 328.
Maya Kelly is a metro editor from Providence who covers community, crime and activism as well as business and development. A concentrator in urban studies and data fluency, she is passionate about intersecting storytelling with data analysis. When Maya's not at The Herald, you can find her hanging from an aerial silk, bullet journaling or in the middle of a forest.
Ethan Schenker is a university news editor covering staff and student labor. He is from Bethesda, MD, and plans to study International and Public Affairs and Economics. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano and clicking on New York Times notifications.
