Reaction is pouring in like Pumpkin Spice Latte in a 31-ounce Trenta cup over Starbucks’ decision to kick customers out of its 8,000 corporate stores the afternoon of May 29 for racial-bias training. A key focus of the training: When not to kick customers out of its stores.
“For us to give up one day here is nothing if it helps the greater good,” Vincenzo Finelli, a Starbucks customer at Boca Raton’s Mizner Park. He said he was “shocked” at a viral video of two black men being removed by police from a Philadelphia Starbucks.
Kenny Haupert, who frequents the same Starbucks, disagreed.
“Starbucks certainly has the right to remove people,” he said. “It’s not a public restroom.”
He thinks the video was “blown out of proportion.”
In Boynton Beach, Pierre Gabeau said the incident can come across differently to people who share the skin color of the men in Philadelphia, as he does.
“I’m happy because I don’t always feel comfortable in Starbucks,” Gabeau said. “I don’t know why. Maybe because I don’t see people like me in Starbucks.”
For many people, Starbucks holds more than an ordinary place in modern culture and their everyday lives.
One of the fundamental issues is clarifying how Starbucks presents itself to the public: Should people view it as a welcoming haven to use internet service or the restroom, meet people, or just hang out without immediate pressure to buy anything? Are there reasonable limits to this? What happens if the public gets the idea policies are enforced differently based on skin color?
The two men entered the Philadelphia Starbucks and asked to use to the bathroom, according to published reports. An employee said it was only for paying customers. They sat in the store without ordering anything. The manager called police. The men were arrested for trespassing. No charges were filed. The manager no longer works at the store, company officials said.
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson apologized to the men and called the outcome “reprehensible.”
On Tuesday, Starbucks announced the May 29 closures for racial-bias training, developed with guidance from former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and representatives of civil-rights groups. Company officials said they had no immediate information on how many stores in Palm Beach County are corporately-owned and subject to the afternoon closure, compared to franchise locations licensed to others.
“Closing our stores for racial bias training is just one step in a journey that requires dedication from every level of our company and partnerships in our local communities,” Johnson said.
At a Starbucks on Yamato Road in Boca Raton, a customer who gave only her first name called it a risky move.
“Somebody might end up going to Dunkin Donuts,” Anne said. “They may lose a lot of customers in one day. It’s not a great business decision.”
Though the heaviest coffee sales tend to come in morning hours, Starbucks risks lost sales of about $12 million in the one afternoon alone, Marketwatch.com calculated.
“They (Starbucks) are becoming too political,” Anne said. “Maybe come up with a new coffee place that’s neutral in politics.”
Although closing for a day seems “drastic,” Wellington customer Madison Nesbitt, 32, said she understands the company sees it as a necessary step. She also hopes franchise-owned stores — which account for about half the Starbucks locations in the U.S. — follow suit.
“It’ll still make corporate as a whole look bad if they don’t do the same,” she said.
In Jupiter, customer Patricia Duckett said, “I don’t understand why they haven’t done this training already. I think it’s outrageous. I think a lot of people use Starbucks as a meeting place.”
Staff writers Kristina Webb, Alexandra Seltzer, Lulu Ramadan and Ryan DiPentima contributed to this report.
About the Author
