Reminder: Starbucks Will Be Closed This Afternoon for Corporate Diversity Training
This afternoon, over 8,000 Starbucks locations will shut their doors so employees can attend diversity training. If you’re looking for your afternoon jolt, you’ll have to go elsewhere.
Last month, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks while waiting for a business meeting. A video capturing the arrest went viral. The coffee chain’s CEO, Kevin Johnson, issued a personal apology on Good Morning America, calling the incident “completely inappropriate” and “reprehensible.”
@Starbucks The police were called because these men hadn’t ordered anything. They were waiting for a friend to show up, who did as they were taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing. All the other white ppl are wondering why it’s never happened to us when we do the same thing. pic.twitter.com/0U4Pzs55Ci
“While this is not limited to Starbucks, we’re committed to being a part of the solution,” Johnson said. “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.”
The training will focus on racial bias, and the Washington Post reported that employees will talk about their own experiences with bias as well as why biases exist.
Most stores were open for the morning rush today, but will close at 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. this afternoon so employees can attend the training. Over 175,000 people will attend, and the closing it supposed to cost the chain $12 million in revenue. Starbucks locations in airports, hotels, and grocery stores should remain open during regular business hours.
“This is something that has been going on for years, and everyone’s blind to it, but they know it’s going on, if you get what I mean,” Nelson said in an appearance on Good Morning America. “[We want to] help people understand that it’s not just a black people thing. This is a people thing.”
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