Is this the 1950's again?
 

Some coffee stands get steamier
By Amy Roe

Seattle Times Eastside bureau

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Candice Law, a barista at Cowgirls Espresso in Tukwila, chats with customer Gary Lundstrom. She and other baristas vary their outfits, depending on the day's theme. "Everybody's excited to see you," Law says.



MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Barista Candice Law at Cowgirls Espresso in Tukwila says she makes more in tips than she ever did as a waitress at Hooters.


In a short, sheer, baby-doll negligee and coordinated pink panties, Candice Law is dressed to work at a drive-through espresso stand in Tukwila, and she is working it.

Customers pull their trucks up to the window, where Law greets each with an affectionate nickname, blows kisses, and vamps about as she steams milk for a mocha. "You want whipped cream?" she asks, a sly smile playing on her pierced lip.

The next customer rolls up, and Law throws a long leg onto the window sill, like an indie-rock ballerina at the barre.

"Do you like my leg warmers?" she asks. "Aren't they hot?"

Hot is not the half of it. To stand apart from the hordes of drive-through espresso stands that clutter the Northwest's roadsides, commuter coffee stops such as Tukwila's Cowgirls Espresso are adding bodacious baristas, flirty service and ever more-revealing outfits to the menu.

At Port Orchard's Natté Latté, baristas sport hot-pink hot pants and tight white tank tops. Day-of-the-week theme outfits ranging from racy lingerie to "fetish" ensembles are the dress code at Moka Girls Espresso in Auburn and at several Cowgirls Espresso stands in the area. Bikini tops are the special at Café Lorraine on Highway 9 in Woodinville, and the women of The Sweet Spot in Shoreline pose provocatively in Playmate-style profiles on the stand's Web site.

"In this area, we all know how to make good coffee," said Barbara Record, who opened Bikini Espresso in Renton last month. The trick is to set your business apart, she said, and sex is one sure-fire way to do that.

"It's just, how far do you want to go?" she said.

At Best Friend Espresso in Kenmore, baristas go thigh-high. An elevated service window offers customers a nearly full-length view of pretty, young baristas — some of them high-school students — in short skirts, tank tops and high heels.

Best Friend owner Wayne Hembree said he requires employees to dress "classy;" in dresses, skirts and a nice top.




"What I think most of them have found is that their tips are better if they wear short skirts," he said.

Occasionally, Best Friend does theme days, such as "schoolgirl" or adding glasses for a sexy "secretary" look, manager Heather Bacon said.

Longer commutes, a change in laws regulating the stands, and the saturation of the carryout coffee market have given drive-through stands a jolt in the past few years.

When the state's smoking ban went into effect last year, many bar, casino and convenience-store owners sought to make up for expected losses by renting part of their parking lots to espresso stands, said Lori Bowden, owner of the Cowgirls Espresso stands.

The advent of "sexpresso" is harder to track. Business and baristas debate over who pioneered the edgy outfits, but they agree that by sweetening the product, with a smile and maybe a shot of hazelnut syrup, they've reached out to customers who've never set foot in a Starbucks.

Drive-throughs are a growing part of Starbucks' business, too, with more than 1,500 drive-through locations throughout the United States. But a representative of the company said it has no plans to sex up the dress code, as it wouldn't fit the company's brand.

At places such as Cowgirls, the barista is the brand.

"If I'm going to pay $4 for a cup of coffee" said one male customer, "I'm not going to get served by a guy."

That attitude has been a boon to Cowgirls. Bowden, a former vending-machine-company owner, has acquired seven drive-through stands, with a total of 26 employees, all of them women.

Though most of the stands in the area pay minimum wage, Law said she makes more in tips than she ever did as a waitress at Hooters. One recent morning, she served 400 customers between about 6 a.m. and noon.

"Your customers freakin' adore you. Everybody's excited to see you," Law said. "You spend a few minutes with them and they leave."

They come back, too.

When Ryan Reed pulled up to Best Friend Espresso for his usual, a 24-ounce iced vanilla latte, on a recent weekday afternoon, he knew what to expect.

"The owner [Wayne Hembree] always hires super-hot girls," Reed said. "That's basically his philosophy."

Hembree said actually, he looks for customer-service skills. The dress code, which he started four years ago, was inspired by an employee whose polished look boosted business, he said. Hembree also requires staff members to wear makeup and do their hair, "and these guys, I won't lie to you, they like that," he said.

But Best Friend has made some enemies. Jeff Marshall, whose wife, Wendy, owns the gift shop Chalet Cadeau, said the couple moved their business from Kenmore to Kirkland last month in frustration over neighboring Best Friend Espresso. Marshall said the business caused traffic problems and drove customers away from the gift shop.

"It's disgusting," he said of the stand. "It's an undesirable business from a community that's trying to sell itself as a family-oriented community."

Kenmore City Manager Steve Anderson said city officials looked into Marshall's complaints.

"We've heard of issues and we've had undercover investigations, police surveillance, and it resulted in nothing," he said. Likewise, King County sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart said the business isn't breaking any laws.

Bowden said law requires that employees cover their breasts and buttocks, so there will be no "thong Thursday," as some customers have requested.

Back in that cow-spotted stand in front of Silver Dollar Casino in Tukwila, Law steams milk and dreams up new themes.

"I like the idea of Saran Wrap Saturday," she mused. "Now they've got those colored Saran Wraps. Dude, they could totally make a cute outfit."


Amy Roe: 206-464-3347 or aroe@seattletimes.com

Not surprising, we all know what a den of iniquity the Northwest is.:haha:

What does the 1950s have to do with it?

Car hops? :confused:

I was around in the '50's, I dont remeber any car hops dressed in Saran Wrap. And I'm pretty sure I would have remebered that...

I don't remember Saran Wrap, in the 50s. Wax paper wouldn't cut it for the coffee maids. ;)

My guess is that you're all being deliberatly obtuse in the course of some cybernetic 'kerplunk' game....

which leaves you somewhat a bit less than well-rounded inividuals.

It was introduced for household use in 1953 by Dow.

Recreational clothing applications came somewhat later.

I was once sweet on a young cutie who had some pretty amazing Saran Wrap costume photos. She also did a duct tape costume once.

Too bad she decided she was a boi later on...

Barista Candice Law at Cowgirls Espresso in Tukwila

Far out...Beatnik curb service!

Haaaaaa....Haaaaaaa....

Yes, clearly your failure to understand what's going on is quite obviously

1) our fault, and

2) evidence of our inherent inferiority.

[Jack Benny]

Well!

[/Jack Benny]

http://www.cowgirlsespresso.com/

Definitely not the '50's.

"Oh, Rochester!"

I took the 1950s comment to mean that Sheldonrs was annoyed that this was "news"--basically, that the writer of the article thought an establishment using sexy waitresses to increase sales was somehow innovative and interesting.

Saran Wrap is cling film. Except that it's really crap compared to real British cling film -it clings to nuffink, so they took to using it for perverse clothing and the like. ;)

Saran Wrap is to Septics as Biros are to Limeys.

Actually I was refering to a time when it was considered OK to objectify women but hey, what do I know.

I don't think the girls are a victim here.
They got it. They sell it. They still got it. Whatta country. :smack:

I don't like it. And I can't even structure a coherent argument as to why not. I tried, but it was too defensive and kept saying what I didn't mean.

I just feel about it the same way I felt about some lager ads recently in the UK. "Carling Don't Make..." [coffee stands in this case] ".. but if they did, they'd be the best in the world." Trouble was, the bank was full of slim sexy women who found the men in the advert sexy, the club was full of slim sexy women who found the men in the advert sexy, the shared house was full of slim sexy women who loved football and cooking and probably wanted sex etc etc etc. Where's my advert?

Where's my coffee stand?

I pay exactly the same price for my beer/ coffee as a man, I want someone to come sit down with me, laugh at my jokes, tell me he's never met a woman like me before and damn aren't I intelligent. Oh I know he's paid to do it, but it puts a smile on my face....

Hmmmm. Perhaps I will open that women only coffee shop after all.

I'd be a customer.

I wish like hell I knew what this meant.

My take on this:
Americans use Saran Wrap as a generic term to cover any kind of cling-film. In the same way that people in the UK use the term Biro to mean any ballpoint pen regardless of manufacturer.

Of course I can only vouch for the second sentence being correct, so I'll wait for Cool Hair Monster to elucidate.

A biro is a ballpoint pen. I'm afraid I don't get the rest of it either.

Yup, that's it. I was having a cryptic moment. (And sorry, a whiny expat one, thanks for not sending me packing)

Saran Wrap is a brand name Americans tend to use more frequently than the real product name, which is cling film. It confuses new expats for a while. Biros had a similar effect on American expats in the UK. A Biro is a ballpoint pen.

Limeys is what some Americans call us Brits -some take offence to it, although I don't. Septics in a Brit expat term for Americans, it's not terribly nice -in my opinion- it's not one I personally use on a regular basis, I have no idea why I used it last night -I was miserable and fed up and having a beer and I'm sorry if I upset anyone, I think this is a wonderful board full of lovely people and I do like living in America, I just feel a long way from what I know every now and then. Particularly monthly, although that's probably TMI.

Oh and nuffink is nothing. which is about the value of my post, really. beest should take my computer away late at night. I forget y'all don't know me as well as I feel I know you and as well as people on other boards do.

i'll get my coat.

Oh, darling! Please don't beat yourself up! I didn't think it was rude at all, I just wondered what the heck you meant! I knew it was some British slang and I was just pulling your leg. It'll be ok, monster. Did you know that some British bloke calculated that Jan. 22 was the most depressing time of the year? So, see. It's not just you. AND! You live in Michigan! How depressing it that? ;) (I kid, I kid!)

Anybody who thinks Saran Wrap doesn't cling to anything has never tried to get it off the roll.

The stretchy plastic wraps are admittedly superior for many applications. But when I had to fabricate an adaptor from epoxy putty to fit a resin composite fore-grip to my AK-47, Saran Wrap was perfect for keeping it from sticking.

It's also rumored that Saran can be used as an emergency condom, but I've never seen it work.

Saran comes from the same Cool Tools space that duct tape does.

Hey! Me, too!

Pretty darn depressing right now, with Pfizer deciding to leave Ann Arbor.:(

thanks. what a misery guts I am.

Now, I agree that the Saran Wrap is hard to get off the roll, but once it is, I can't get it to cling to anything other than itself, and even that's a bit hit and miss -as soon as I try to stretch it tight, it slips. The supermarket brand was awful. So I have my MIL bring Sainsbury's cheapo brand when she comes over. Perhaps I just had a bad batch. Or two? Thinking about it, it's not something I've heard other expats moan about, so it must be my and my weird needs.

You need an awful lot of cling film for a Mazola party and you need to be sure it's going to seal.

Sorry, Maggie, I understood fully what the thread-maker was alluding to, and was surprised that ,at the time of writing, nobody else had got it. Hence the 'less than well rounded' comment.

(Kerplunk was of course also a 50's game)

(oh and, whilst septic (tank rhymes with yank) isn't a very nice term, it's only ever used affectionately in the same way Brits will call their best mates tossers etc. If people want to be nasty, they don't bother with rhyming slang -"Bloody yanks" works just fine. But it's still probably something I should have used without more ;)-type things. or maybe at all)

Hmm. They're just down the road. Shall I drive through and show them this thread, take some pictures, ask for autographs? I might even get completely crazy and buy a cup of coffee! Maybe at lunch...

I think some of the brands that used to stick pretty well were reformulated because they contained a chemical that mimics estrogen and they were thought to possibly cause health problems in some small percentage of the population. So I don't know of any cling wrap in the US that works anymore. Maybe the UK wrap still contains the chemicals that let the cling wrap cling.

:worried:

I remember some changes to cling film in the UK several years ago for health reasons, but it got clingier then, if anything. I don't like it next to food, so I like to stretch it taut over bowls etc, so it doesn't sag into the food. I also use it to control the moisture content of my ceramic pieces in progress. I wonder if the health concern was ingestion or just contact?

[Chekov] Saran wrap vas inwented by little old lady from Leningrad.
[/Chekov]

I meant the stuff available in the UK.

I hope she is/was a very rich little old lady. Marvelous stuff.

IMHO Freds brand works better than most of name brands.

I don't think it's a problem unless it's heated, like in a microwave oven, and leaches chemicals into the food. Actually the wrap doesn't heat as much as the hot food, especially grease, gets hot and heats the wrap.
Cold contact shouldn't be a problem, but I wouldn't eat it.

Sorry you're affected by the Pfizer massacre.:mad:

And never heard septic used in that context, interesting.

thanks, although the effect on us personally is indirect -it affects our friends, schools, community......

beest work in the automotive industry ...which isn't exactly a stroll in the park right now, either :rolleyes:

You find "septic" used a lot on expat bulletin boards -often in intros (Hi, i'm John, just moved here, wife's a septic....) and tongue-in-cheek sweeping generalizations (like mine). People who move here and find themselves with septic tanks instead of regular sewers also seem particularly enamored of the phrase ...can't think why :rolleyes: (pretty much all UK homes have city sewers, perhaps it seems a little foreign)

And then there are those who spell it sceptic......

Septics is only ever used tongue in cheek in my experience. We used to use it in Oxford when the majority of tourists who stopped right in the middle of the pavement with no warning seemed to be American. I doubt that's the case now.