Donovan Dobbins, 34, waves a flag representing a workers strike outside a Center City Starbucks, where two black men were arrested, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S. April 16, 2018.
Donovan Dobbins, 34, waves a flag representing a workers strike outside a Center City Starbucks, where two black men were arrested, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S. April 16, 2018. Reuters/Mark Makela

Starbucks will be closing its more than 8,000 company-owned stores in the US for the afternoon of May 29. CEO Kevin Johnson announced that the coffee shop chain will conduct racial bias training to all staff to prevent discrimination in stores.

The move comes following the recent scandal that in its Philadelphia branch, wherein two black men were taken in handcuffs by the police for apparently trespassing. The incident was caught on video, which Johnson said was “very hard to watch.”

Following national boycotts and protests, as well as a personal apology video from Johnson, Starbucks announced that it would be holding mandatory racial-bias education on the afternoon of May 29. The training will be provided to about 175,000 employees across the country and will be the part of the onboarding process for the new hires.

“I’ve spent the last few days in Philadelphia with my leadership team listening to the community, learning what we did wrong and the steps we need to take to fix it,” Johnson said in a statement. “While this is not limited to Starbucks, we’re committed to being a part of the solution. 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.”

“This is just one step in the journey. There are many more to take, but this is an important step,” he added.

Johnson also said that he had met with the men who were arrested to apologise. “We had a very emotional and constructive conversation,” he said, adding he also met with the mayor, council officials and the police.

Apart from the aforementioned video, there is another one circulating online, which shows a black man being denied to use the restroom in a Starbucks store in Los Angeles because he hadn’t ordered anything. But then he saw a white man coming out of the restroom. The other man told him he also hadn’t ordered anything, but the staff gave him the bathroom code. The video was shared by activist Shaun King and shot by Brandon Ward.

Starbucks has not appeared to address the new video specifically yet.

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