UCSD’s Starbucks To Remain Open During Company’s Nationwide Shutdown for Racial Bias Trainings

On April 17, Starbucks announced they will close its company-owned coffee shops in the United States to provide racial bias training to its employees on May 29. However, the Starbucks at UC San Diego’s Price Center will remain open during this day, a lead from the store confirmed.

“We will be open on May 29, despite the company’s decision,” said the lead, who declined to give her name. “This Starbucks is partnered with UCSD, so how we get affected by company announcements [is] different.”

The lead could not confirm or deny whether their employees will still receive racial bias training. However, the lead noted that all their employees receive training during the onboarding process, including not just barista training but also sexual harassment and cyberbullying training. It remains unclear what racial bias training is done beforehand for employees. The Triton has reached out to Starbucks at UCSD and has not yet received comment.

Starbucks’ decision comes in response to an incident earlier this month in which two African-American men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia, prompting public backlash. The two men had asked to use the bathroom while waiting for a friend, but an employee had them removed, citing that they had not bought anything. Starbucks immediately apologized, leading to a planned shutdown of over 8,000 stores nationwide.

Two other UC colleges have a university-affiliated Starbucks on campus, UC Irvine and UC Riverside. Both coffee shops will also remain open on May 29, according to their stores.

Unlike its UCSD counterpart, the UC Irvine Starbucks explicitly confirmed that its employees will not receive racial bias training.

“Because we’re owned by the university, the university already has their own policies and training regarding these things, so our employees will not be doing the training,” said Vicky Nguyen, manager of UC Irvine’s Starbucks.

When The Triton asked a spokesperson from Starbucks corporate office as to why some stores will remain open, the spokesperson explained that it may be due to the fact that UCSD’s Starbucks is a university-affiliated store, but Starbucks could also neither confirm nor deny whether UCSD Starbucks employees will still receive the racial bias training.

Anabel King is a Staff Writer for the Triton.