Anodyne Coffee Workers Are Unionizing
Seeking union recognition from Fairwave Holdings, which bought Anodyne in 2023.
(Left to right) Sabrina Prochaska, Olivia Jackson and Reva Kashikar wearing pro-union shirts at Anodyne’s Bay View cafe Tuesday. Photo taken April 15, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.
Another Milwaukee coffee chain is unionizing.
Workers at Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co. are organizing a union with the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH). On Monday, MASH sent a letter requesting union recognition to Fairwave Holdings, LLC, the Missouri-based company that purchased Anodyne in 2023.
The majority of Anodyne workers in the proposed bargaining unit have signed union authorization cards, according to MASH. That includes full-time and part-time baristas and cafe employees, event staff, roastery employees, and assistant general managers. Anodyne operates cafes at the Milwaukee Public Market, in Wauwatosa (7471 Harwood Ave.), Bay View (2920 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) and at its Walker’s Point roastery (224 W. Bruce St.).
Sabrina Prochaska, an employee at the Bay View cafe, told Urban Milwaukee she believes a union will help secure a workplace that provides livable wages and maintains good communication between workers and management. Anodyne employees have rights, she said, and they are prepared to exercise them. Ideally, Fairwave will recognize and bargain with the union
“If they don’t, I think we’re prepared to just campaign,” Prochaska said. “And any union busting: it’s not going to work.”
The union is asking Anodyne to recognize the union and begin bargaining a labor contract. In the letter to owners, MASH said it is willing to submit union authorization cards for a card count to verify union support. Owners rarely agree to union recognition before a National Labor Relations Board-supervised election is conducted.
MASH President Peter Rickman is a frequent critic of the NLRB election process, arguing it creates opportunities for delay tactics and time for union-busting campaigns.
“Members of the Anodyne coffee workers union join a wave of hospitality workers locally and nationwide forming unions in order to secure living wages, fair scheduling and hours, employment protections, a seat at the table on decisions impacting their jobs, and rights in the workplace,” MASH said in a statement. “Anodyne coffee workers organized as part of a movement seeking to transform service sector work into a bastion of good jobs in Milwaukee, and to rebuild our city as a union town once again.”
A request for comment from Fairwave Holdings was not answered as of publishing.
Fairwave is owned by Great Range Capital, a private equity firm also based in Missouri. It is run cooperatively and includes nine other specialty coffee brands, as Urban Milwaukee previously reported. When Fairwave purchased Anodyne the company’s founders, Matt McClutchy and Lacee Perry, became part-owners in Fairwave. Ownership of Anodyne is shared by Fairwave and a local ownership group.
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