Bikini Baristas Making Waves

Posted on May 20th, 2008

A small coffee shop that has a few location in Washington state is making international headlines for a very simple reason – their Baristas wear bikinis. Cowgirls Espresso started as a small independent coffee stand painted like a big cow, but on one hot day that all changed. An employee was allowed to wear a bikini top and business boomed. Bikini Wednesday was born and after that each day was given a new sexy theme. People in towns where these shops do business aren’t too happy, but the employees are loving the work.

Jessica Bustare, 21, Everett, sat on a bench and waited for a job interview outside the Grab ‘N’ Go on a chilly afternoon early this week. An athletic-looking 19-year-old barista with blonde hair wearing a bikini and flip-flops took a bag of trash out of the shack and tossed it into a garbage bin.
“I don’t really consider this too sexual,” Bustare said. “I think it’s fun and cute.”
Leslie Preskitt, 21, a trim, upbeat barista at Cowgirls Espresso near downtown Everett, wore a pink-and-white striped bikini as she worked a silver espresso machine Wednesday afternoon.
She’s been working at the stand for three months and said she gets twice as much in tips in a day than she did in a full week when she worked at a coffee chain store.
Baristas at similar stands say they consistently fetch more than $100 a day in tips.
Herald