There’s been a lot of buzz about The Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers on Disney’s BoardWalk since it opened in 2024. A majority of it has been about the restaurant’s prices (and $22 cake slices), but now the restaurant is facing a new controversy.
According to Orlando Weekly, the restaurant is now being sued by former employees for alleged wage theft.
The Cake Bake Shop, a third-party restaurant at Disney World, is now facing multiple lawsuits from former servers and bartenders who are accusing the restaurant of violating Florida’s minimum wage law. The workers are formerly tipped employees of the restaurant and allege that they were paid below the minimum for tipped wages in both 2024 and 2025 for an “excessive amount” of work that is not generally tipped, such as janitorial and maintenance duties.
In Florida, the state minimum wage is $14 per hour or $10.98 per hour for employees who earn at least $30 monthly in tips. This includes jobs like servers and bartenders. Orlando attorney Michael Grossman, who is representing the former Cake Bake shop employees, explained that tipped workers can do “side work” that isn’t tipped, as long as that work doesn’t make up more than an “occasional” part of their workweek.
The lawsuits allege that The Cake Bake Shop required servers to perform “excessive amounts” of this kind of side work every shift, often for hours at a time. One of the lawsuits reads: “Plaintiff was required to work for substantial periods of time before Plaintiff’s tip-producing shift began. Plaintiff was additionally required to work for substantial periods of time after Plaintiff’s shift concluded.”
At least 11 individual lawsuits have been filed against the restaurant. All but four of the most recent have ended in settlements. The most recent suit was filed by a former server who is seeking about $4,805, which includes $2,402 in unpaid wages and $2,402 in liquidated damages.
Rogers, the owner of The Cake Bake Shop, who is also the defendant in the lawsuits, stated that she rejects the allegations levied against her and her restaurant. The statement reads, “I firmly reject the false allegations being made regarding our Orlando location, which are both inaccurate and unfair. They do not reflect the culture we have worked diligently to foster over the years.”…