Have Some TaTa's with Your Latte

I'd better put the gang in Fort Bend on notice, just in case there's an available storefront at the strip mall next to Nooky's. Who knows, this might catch on like Hooter's. Someone alert Andy!

There's a new coffee shop coming to Portland.

The Bikini Coffee Company, which has already established a loyal- and nearly all male- clientele in Salem, has set its sights on Portland. The company, known for its bikini-top-wearing baristas, plans to open an espresso bar ...for coffee drinkers looking to order a tall nonfat with extra whip.

The writer of this piece, Helen Jung, has a great sense of humor. The extra whip line just about made me spit out my morning homebrew. Her lead in, "Just what Portland needed. Another coffee place to order a cup. Or two." kept me reading.

Obviously, the beach attire theme works. Business at the Salem shop quadrupled after baristas donned bikinis and shorts last year. I feel so much better about all this because the owners' mom comes and visits and 'keeps us in check'. They do have their standards, and when the help started showing up in outfits that were 'over the top', the boss had uniforms made up: aqua or white bikini tops with the logo and blue or white shorts, and white shoes. What a relief.

I'm also happy to note that there are hiring standards.

The baristas, who are hired under modeling contracts, can't have just good looks, he said. "The girls have to have some sort of personality...Personality is a huge part."

Yeah, HUGE.
You've come a long way, baby.