STARBUCKS PAUSES PERSONAL CUP USE
Customers who prefer to get their lattes, frappuccinos or other Starbucks beverages poured directly into personal mugs or cups will now have to do that pouring themselves. Starbucks employees — for the time being, at least — aren’t handling personal drinkware.
The ubiquitous coffee chain is “pausing” its policy of allowing customers to use personal cups in the wake of the spread of the new coronavirus, COVID-19.
The policy change was formally announced by Starbucks executive vice president Rossann Williams in a letter published on the company’s website Tuesday. A company spokeswoman said it applies to all stores in the U.S. and Canada.
Denver plant-based hand sanitizer brand sees orders spike 400%. A Denver-based maker of plant-based hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, hand soap and other sanitary products says it saw demand for its top-selling items skyrocket by 400% in February. As the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus continues to spread in the U.S. and around the globe, a stockpile meant to last until August now might not even last until the end of the month.
“At this rate, we’re just scrambling to get product out to people who are asking. We could be out of anything within a week or two,” CleanWell CEO Stew Lawrence said Thursday. As a result of the public health crisis, Lawrence said his company has fielded an order from an independent natural grocery store in Florida that wants enough hand soap to last an entire year. An agreement to get CleanWell products on the shelves of Whole Foods stores in the Rocky Mountain region has been moved up to take effect in a couple of weeks instead of later this year.
Hand sanitizer, in particular, has become scarce on store shelves in the Denver area this week amid the crisis, as have cold and flu medicines.
That’s despite one Denver public health official saying that people washing their hands with soap and water is a preferred and much more effective way to protect from illness. The World Health Organization recommends that people use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol to combat coronavirus.