Now everyone can use the restroom at Starbucks
So why is the company under fire again?
In the wake of the Starbucks debacle in Philadelphia and the company’s efforts to be more inclusive, coffee shops and restaurants around the country are looking at whether they have a racial bias education plan and if it’s working, or if they should develop one — and how to do it.
Switching up policies can present new challenges, as Starbucks learned over the weekend. The company is already facing a backlash for a new policy rolled out ahead of its racial bias education training next week.
The Seattle-based company has faced intense criticism since April, when a manager at a Starbucks in Philadelphia called the police on two black men who sat down for a meeting, with one of them asking to use the restroom. He was denied because he hadn’t yet bought anything. The third person in the meeting arrived as the police were arresting the men, who were then released.
Following protests as well as police and company apologies, all corporate-owned Starbucks locations will close for a half-day on May 29 for its first racial bias education training. Franchises that operate inside of stores or other businesses — such as Barnes & Noble or Target — are not included in the closings.
Ahead of the training, the company announced on Saturday the “Third Place Policy,” that would allow “any customer” whether or not they buy something, to use the restrooms, cafes and patios provided the guests are considerate of others and “act responsibly.”
Then, in response to criticism over the weekend that an opendoor policy would crowd out
paying customers or that “public restrooms would attract drug users,” Starbucks told The Wall St. Journal on Monday that the company needed to clarify its policy to emphasize that employees have detailed instructions on how to handle someone who’s being disruptive and that disruptive behaviors “include smoking, drug or alcohol use, improper use of restrooms and sleeping,” as well as playing loud music or looking at “inappropriate content.”
Other coffee shops and businesses are also trying to figure out how to be more inclusive.
Sarah Walsh, owner of Caffe D’Amore in Lawrenceville, said the Philadelphia arrests at Starbucks prompted her to examine and reconsider her store’s policies and behaviors. “The question is, how to be the type of business that serves all people?” she said. “There’s what we’re doing, then there’s the opportunity to do more.”
While Ms. Walsh is glad that Starbucks has acknowledged its mistakes, the event has compelled her to take a big-picture look about conflict management at her shop.
She noted that she wants to be “intersectional in the approach,” by considering what the coffee shop might mean to a visitor. “What if this is a safe place for the customer?” she said. And while she has had many discussions and has established an evolving policy, “that’s where I feel my policy is lacking: And I don’t yet know what other resources are out there for help.”
Before Starbucks had the two black customers arrested, Ms. Walsh said, she had a loose script for employees when a customer stays for more than 20 minutes without having bought something. The emphasis is on “We’re so glad you’re here!” along with pointing out that it’s a small, locally owned business that needs to pay the bills.
A few miles away at the Fairmont Pittsburgh Hotel in Downtown, “Anti-bias training isn’t anything new for us,” said Simon Boden, director of sales and marketing.
He has been working for the Toronto-based company for nearly 20 years and recalled the training as far back as when he was hired. It’s a major part of the training for new employees at the Fairmont and the hundreds of hotels and properties owned by parent company FRHI Hotels & Resorts.
The training goes beyond new staff, with employees spending a full day every year in anti-bias workshops, navigating case studies, roleplaying situations provided by the training and “anticipating what could possibly happen in each scenario,” Mr. Boden said.
“Some people used to ask whether the yearly training was really necessary,” he said. “Now we see it’s inspired: By going through different situations every year, the company actually prevents something like what happened at Starbucks from happening.”
BigBurrito restaurants — with more than 1,000 employees at Kaya and Eleven in the Strip District, Casbah and Soba in Shadyside and many Mad Mex locations — has a “zero tolerance” policy for sexual harassment or racism in the workplace, said Bill Fuller, president of the restaurant group. It’s emphasized in training and modeled at restaurants, but it’s not information the company shares with the public.
Proactive bias training marks a corporate shift that’s pretty new — when it’s happening at all.
Like Starbucks, many companies implement antidiscrimination training — understanding what constitutes respectful behavior in the workplace — when “something happened to bring it to their attention,” said Phyllis Hartman, head of PGHR Consulting. It’s a firm she established to help companies implement diversity training and awareness in the Pittsburgh region.
Companies that have been successful didn’t have to pay attention to it because “it didn’t have an impact,” she said. But when management sometimes forgets to pay attention to people, that’s when things can go wrong.
And that’s when she’s called in. “They did not realize they themselves and others within their company have unconscious biases as we all do,” she said. But “you have to become aware of bias so you don’t let it affect your judgment.”
She cited the significance and symbolism of every Starbucks’ closing for a halfday as a big deal and a “good start.” But education has to go beyond training.
“You can educate people about the facts, but you have to do something to support the change in behavior,” she said. “And you have to have good role models at the top.”
“You can educate people about the facts, but you have to do something to support the change in behavior. And you have to have good role models at the top.” — Phyllis Hartman, head of PGHR Consulting