Howard Schultz Says You Can Use Any Starbucks Bathroom — For Free
Howard Schultz Image by Getty Images
Starbucks executive chairman Howard Schultz announced plans to open its restrooms to anyone who wants to use them — whether or not they’re a paying customer, Fox Business reported.
The recent policy change came in response to outrage over the arrest of two African-American men last month after they asked to use the bathroom in a Philadelphia Starbucks. An employee told the men it was only for paying customers, and when they sat down at a table in the store without ordering anything, the manager called police.
“We don’t want to become a public bathroom, but we’re going to make the right decision 100% of the time and give people the key, because we don’t want anyone at Starbucks to feel as if we are not giving access to you to the bathroom because you are less than,” Schultz reportedly said on Thursday. “We want you to be more than.”
The two men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, settled with Starbucks earlier this month for an unrevealed amount and an offer of free college tuition. They also reached a deal with the city of Philadelphia for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from city officials to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs, ABC News reported.
Schultz stepped down as the CEO of Starbucks last April, and was replaced by Kevin Johnson.
Johnson announced that the company will hold racial bias training on May 29 in response to last month’s incident. The company attracted controversy last month when it chose the Anti-Defamation League as one of the groups helping to organize its training program, only to later move the organization to a lesser role.
Contact Haley Cohen at [email protected]
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
