A former Coffeebar barista says the Redwood City coffee chain pooled his tips across multiple locations and even used gratuities to help pay the bakers who made its pastries. Kevin Semo, who worked as an hourly Coffeebar employee from June 2025 until his termination in May 2026, filed a class action civil lawsuit against the company last month, alleging wage theft and inaccurate wage statements.
Semo filed the suit on Oct. 12 in San Mateo County Superior Court, according to Redwood City Pulse. The complaint names three Coffeebar subsidiaries along with Gregory Buchheister, described in the filing as Coffeebar's founder and the manager of each location, as defendants.
According to the complaint, Semo alleges he never received all the wages he was owed, including tips, and that Coffeebar failed to keep accurate records of the gratuities it collected. He also alleges the company's itemized wage statements misstated gross wages, total hours worked, and net wages for each pay period — details the complaint says left employees unable to promptly and easily figure out what they were actually owed.
A January Conversation About Tips
Semo says he raised concerns about fair tip distribution with Coffeebar management in Redwood City in January 2026. Per the complaint, management told him that remaining tips were pooled and distributed among employees across different Coffeebar locations — not just the store where the money was earned.
Management also told Semo that employee gratuities were being used to cover commissary expenses, including paying the bakers who made pastries sold in Coffeebar's cafes, the complaint states. Two months later, around the end of March, Semo requested copies of his wage statements and payroll records; according to the complaint, he never received them. Coffeebar terminated his employment on May 8, 2026.
What the Lawsuit Claims and Who It Covers
The lawsuit alleges Coffeebar knowingly and intentionally failed to provide employees with accurate itemized wage statements. Semo is seeking to represent cashiers, baristas, kitchen staff, and float staff who worked at Coffeebar locations during the four years before the complaint was filed — a roster that spans Redwood City, Truckee, Olympic Valley, Northstar, Menlo Park, and Sunnyvale.
Neither Buchheister nor Coffeebar could be reached for comment, the Pulse reported. A case management and trial setting conference is scheduled in San Mateo County Superior Court for Jan. 13, 2027.
What California Law Says About Tips
California regulators have been explicit on this point for years. Guidance from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration states that an employer may not collect, take, or receive any part of a gratuity that a customer paid, gave, or left for an employee. A separate opinion from the California Department of Industrial Relations adds that tip pooling cannot be used to compensate an owner or a manager or supervisor who has authority over hiring, firing, discipline, scheduling, wages, or employee grievances. Neither excerpt addresses how those rules would apply to the specific allegations against Coffeebar.
Part of a Wider Pattern in the Restaurant Industry
Coffeebar isn't the only food-and-beverage business facing this kind of complaint this fall. In Houston, bartender Michael Baron filed a federal lawsuit against Relish Restaurant and Bar, alleging pooled tips were funneled to a maitre'd with managerial duties who received at least $21,000 from the tip pool in 2026, according to the Houston Chronicle. Relish has denied the allegations, telling the paper it remains committed to fair and lawful employment practices.
In Sacramento, an employee filed a class action against the restaurant Echo & Rig on Nov. 2, alleging failure to pay timely wages, failure to pay all wages upon separation, noncompliant wage statements, and rest-break violations, the Sacramento Bee reported. The Bee also noted that a search of wage-related claims against that restaurant turned up 20 incidents dating back to 2018. And in Oklahoma, a federal lawsuit targets nonprofit coffee chain Not Your Average Joe, Inc. and its founder, Tim Herbel, over alleged tip-related and other labor violations; Herbel told KJRH the company had corrected procedural errors and said, “we have never purposely withheld tips from anybody.”
None of those cases establish that the allegations against Coffeebar are true, and the Redwood City company's side of the story has not yet been heard in court. For now, the matter is set to move forward with the January case management conference, where a trial schedule could be established.
