TIL Desk/Business/Philadelphia/ Starbucks will close more than 8,000 US stores for an afternoon next month to train employees after two black men were arrested while waiting at one of the coffee chains Philadelphia stores last week.
The racial-bias education training will occur on May 29 and be provided to nearly 175,000 employees, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
Starbuckss chief executive Kevin Johnson said he had spent the past few days in Philadelphia listening to the community, learning what the company did wrong and what steps were necessary to fix the problem.
The announcement from worlds biggest coffee company comes as it tries to cool tensions after the arrest of two black men at one of its Philadelphia cafes last week sparked accusations of racial profiling at the chain.
