Over the past year, Starbucks has been scrutinized. From unionizing staff to price hike opposition, the coffee giant has faced trouble.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says the business is reviewing its toilet use policy after a big 2018 incident.
In 2018, the coffee business implemented the open-to-all bathroom policy after two Black males were arrested in one of its Philadelphia
outlets for using the bathroom without buying. The public response to the incident prompted the company's major reform.
Starbucks closed over 8,000 company-owned U.S. outlets for a half-day of racial bias training for all staff.
Schultz argued the new regulation puts baristas at risk. Starbucks may limit non-customers with a new rule.
Schultz called the open-to-all bathroom policy a "issue of just safety," citing a growing mental health issue that made Starbucks managers' work unsafe.
"We have to harden our stores and provide safety for our people," Schultz told The New York Times' DealBook D.C. policy forum.
Two black males entered a downtown Philadelphia Starbucks to use the restroom in April 2018. An staffer refused and asked them to leave,
summoning the police, who arrested them for trespassing. A Twitter video of the incident was published. The public quickly condemned the manager's discrimination.