Just a couple words from someone who couldn't give a rat's lefty about coffee-

1st) Gorilla was insanely popular. I used to work in Park Slope and you could barely squeak by on the sidewalk with all the people, dogs and baby carriages clogging the street outside the joint. I never had any animosity toward them for this, mind you. I just knew there had to be something good about the coffee.

2nd) Although I don't drink coffee or have any sentimental feelings about it, I know that it has its own complexity that you may not know of or understand but it's there whether you want to recognize it or not. Just because the process of making a top of the line cappuccino or latte can be explained in 15 minutes doesn't mean that you can learn how in 15minutes. I don't care to follow up with whoever made the skilled labor comment but just because you've never worked in the service industry doesn't mean it's easy. Go to any well-known top restaurant and ask them if they hire servers who don't have experience. If it wasn't a skill, experience wouldn't matter.

3) Much respect to the employees. No matter what the economy says about jobs, no matter what the financial environment is, there's no reason to continue working under someone who's got no idea of respect. This should be a warning to all bullies who throw their weight around unnecessarily. Walmart employees who can barely get a full work schedule, can't get health benefits, and all the other things that they're subjected to should take a lesson from this staff. This is true patriotism. The founding fathers did the same thing to England. Big Up!

A fool can see how everything is foolish, A master see the wisdom in the simplest of things.

As a master electrician/business owner I gleaned this from the story.

1) The drill Sargent old school training approach although has historic merit is best evolved to creating mastery thru self respect VS fear

2)There is nothing simple or easy, mastery of anything to the level of art is a lifelong endeavor. Those who think "how hard can being a barrister be" may do well to explore, "how deep can I go into mastery". Mastery is when your entire mind and spirit is engaged. There are no superficial acts, only superficial people failing to bring mastery to everything they do.

3) If I want my employees to respect me, I will do best by respecting them. The attitude of "this is my company, shut it" does bring short term results, however if you want excellence from with in over time, try respect as an owner. We do tend to reap what we sow.

4) As long as owners take all the risk they deserve all the profits. But then they get what they sow, which is folks motivated only by their wages. If owners share the risk, (IE responsibility) and a portion of the profits and employee's take ownership you have an evolved dynamic. My greatest lesson is I am on the right track after 36 years as an owner to be turning my co into a worker owned one and avoiding theses kind of issues from a structural basis as I have a much broader foundation now. Thats the story, the possibilities to change the very way we conduct business.

if they all walk out it has to be pretty lame.

It must have been awful to work there if the staff was willing to walk out in the middle of a recession. Kudos to them. Will Gothamist interview any of the staff/workers for a follow-up? I'd like to hear directly from them about how nightmarish it was to work there.

Kudos is bullshit ! So you don't like your boss ! Big deal, You don't walk off the job ! I love how some people are cuddled on their jobs like this while others have to suck it up and deal with the oppression . Look I'm all for them with regards to the fact that obviously really like working there ! They take some pride in the business, That's great , Really . But when people get comfortable with their jobs where they feel that striking, walking out, picketing, etc. will dis-sway the employer. Someone has too go ! Sorry, There's a reason they call the person Authorizing, Writing, and or Signing your check " THE BOSS", Or "YOUR BOSS" ! Because they have that rule over the EMPLOYEES ! The only way this works would be if the employees had stock in the company . Then I could see them trying to pull some shit like this .

It can be resolved by the owners placing a crafty sign outfront stating "Gorilla Coffee Shop is Now Hiring" Inquire within !

Good for the staff. They must have had some guerilla coffee in the morning.

I live in Park Slope, and it truly is the best coffee in the slope. Fortunately, the beans are also sold at Union Market in the slope, as well as other establishments in Brooklyn. It is true this was a very popular place, people lining up out on sidewalk for their joe, in spite of probably 100 other places to get coffee. Agree with some of the comments before, they could easily hire new folks one would think, it doesn't need to be closed very long. And I too haven't taken a poop since the place closed, lol.

I am going to admit that this whole thing has me pretty pissed and I am jaded by the fact that the main reason why I can't get my coffee now is because of the workers. I am normally pro-worker but none-the-less I am still pissed off that I don't get my 1 lbs free coffee for every 10 bought or my free coffee whenever I buy a pound. That said I am jaded in my feelings. So sorry in advance.

If in fact the employer was at fault, bravo workers, I still hate you, but bravo.

From the little I have gleaned from this and the nytimes blog entry on this is the staff felt abused; it isn't a reasonable request to ask an owner to remove themself, they are the owner. There could have been better more constructive ways to handle this and given the time frame from the ultimatum to the walk out, options were not explored.

Just my 2 cents. I wish you luck.

Gorilla sells beans at Whole Foods, and there are other small coffee shops that brew their coffee, also. This *is* kind of a big deal, since it's pretty hard to find successful small businesses these days, and this has the potential to hurt other retailers.

Whole Foods employees are probably next...

The steady descent into YouTube levels of insight continues in Gothamist comments. Excellent.

THIS COMMENT IS GAY FOR 5 REEZONS.

;)

THIS POST IS GAY FOR 2 REEZONS. HIRE A NEW STAFF THAT ARENT PUSSIES AND GET ON WITH YOUR MISERABLE WORKER BEE LIVES. AND THE QUESTION OF WHY THEY WALKED OUT HAS NOT BEEN ANSWERED

Why do you even bother posting responses, ribaldry. you never have anything coherent (or properly spelled) to say. For instance, your other post shouted 'Kill the police.' Yeah, that was really well thought out...

BECAUSE I OWN BITCHIE. I DONT LIKE YOUR TONE. RESPECT OR GET WRECKED

DAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMN HE SHOWED YOU B/RITCHIE

Gothamist: As a former coffee shop worker (not gorilla) and restaurant worker, I'd love it if you did some journalist work and tried to contact some of these employees that walked out and get some details about what was going on at this place.

Owners of NYC food and drink establishments can be total headcases, this sounds like it could be one for the books.

Good for the staff

Were these the only people in the world capable of operating the coffee machines in this place? It should take about an hour to hire a few new people and reopen.