Workers at Philz Coffee on Ingleside’s Ocean Avenue are in the early stages of unionizing.
“It's just been kind of a slow buildup; like every few weeks, there's another conversation with somebody,” a worker told The Ingleside Light on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation. “Eventually, we just felt like we were ready.”
The location is one of four in California seeking to unionize with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5, Gazetter San Francisco first reported. The San Francisco, Glendale, Cupertino and Torrance locations would join a Berkeley location in unionizing if successful.
A representative for Philz Coffee did not respond to an interview request.
The homegrown chain, now owned by a private equity firm, has had a rocky two years. It was sold to Los Angeles-based Freeman Spogli & Co. in August 2025 in a deal that canceled employee stock. Baristas were given a $525 “thank you” bonus.
The company made headlines in April 2026 when CEO Mahesh Sadarangani announced that all locations would be removing the Pride flag and other non-branded flags and decor, a decision that was reversed following backlash.
That sort of leadership pushed the Ocean Avenue location workers to start the unionizing process, the Ocean Avenue employee said. They were also influenced by the Berkeley location, which made a post on social media in May 2026 announcing their affiliation with UFCW Local 5 and were preparing for bargaining negotiations. They joined other specialty coffee workers for companies such as Verve, Highwire, Peerless and Cat & Cloud.
“The workers at the Ocean Avenue cafe have been working with our organizers to build support for Philz Workers United,” UFCW Local 5’s Jim Araby said. “They have joined many other Philz cafes who want to improve wages and working conditions along with having a quality voice when it comes to decisions about their workplace.”
The Ocean Avenue employee shared with The Ingleside Light that working conditions have become stressful under the new ownership.
“It feels like you can kind of be punished for so many things that it's just a matter of time until they kick you out,” they said. “It just kind of wears on people. Philz has the whole culture of people over coffee. We're supposed to be paying attention to the customers. They pound it into our head all the time about how we're supposed to be greeting people at the door, give them recommendations, like coaching us on how to talk people through all this stuff, but then they turn around and make it impossible to do that.”
The employee said AI tools have been used to create schedules, resulting in issues for several employees when it comes to hours, pay and workflow, such as being understaffed during peak hours, an update and penalty to its late policy where if an employee is one minute late, it goes on their record and how asking for materials like extra floor mats for behind the bar has been deemed not feasible unless related to an ADA complaint or something similar.
They also shared that they can no longer pick up shifts at other locations, nor can employees from other locations pick up shifts at the Ocean Avenue cafe. The move, they said, was retaliatory.
“We want to have the feeling of not just support, but protection [and for] the ability to make complaints and know that we'll be heard,” the employee said.
The employee said the community can help their unionization in various ways by leaving reviews showing their support through receipt surveys or other online portals.
“We're doing this also for the customers,” the employee said. “We feel that this is affecting their experience in ways they might not notice. When things get hard for us, if people quit here, stuff like that, it's directly passed on to the customer, the quality of the experience. It's everything that Philz wants to deliver. We're trying to make that more possible."
