Starbucks CEO Says Coffee Managers Will Have 'Unconscious Bias' Training

Newsweek ^ | On 4/16/18 at 10:06 AM | Tracy Lee

[ethom]

Starbucks coffee shop managers will have trainings for combating "unconscious bias," its CEO said Monday, after police arrested two black men at a Philadelphia branch of the chain.

"I'll say the circumstances surrounding the incident and the outcome at our store on Thursday were reprehensible," Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson told ABC News on Monday.

Johnson added that the incident called for "more training that we're going to do with our store managers, not only around the guidelines but training around unconscious bias."

Witnesses posted a video to Twitter on Thursday of two black men escorted out of a Philadelphia Starbucks in handcuffs.

“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," according to Melissa DePino, who posted the video.

Controversy quickly arose as people accused Starbucks of racial discrimination and #BoycottStarbucks started trending on Twitter.

Starbucks declined to press trespassing charges, and its CEO issued an apology on Saturday. "Starbucks stands firmly against discrimination or racial profiling," the CEO said in a statement. "I hope to meet personally with the two men who were arrested to offer a face-to-face apology."

[PGR88]

When in town I prefer “Seattle’s Best”, more of a working class coffee. Less hipster BS as well.

If I'm in a place for more than 12-24 hours, I always search out the local coffee places and restaurants, preferably the mom-and-pop places. I don't mind hipster places, I even like them, if they are the owners / operators and have "skin in the game."