Starbucks has been under fire from its union workers for months with accusations of poor working conditions and resistance to negotiation from the union — and this has prompted some members of the public to boycott the brand.
One anti-Starbucks activist named Sacha Fournier took the boycott a step further by creating a map that would help other activists who still want their morning coffee, but want to avoid Starbucks (SBUX) -) stores in the United States.
Related: Starbucks accused of 'manipulating’ its mobile app users into paying more
Fournier created what "Nahbucks" called an interactive map that showcases over 78,000 coffee shops that he identified using Google Maps. The map is color-coded, segregating coffee shops by 18,670 Starbucks locations, 10,702 Dunkin' locations and 48,906 non-Starbucks and non-Dunkin' locations.
"I created this map because I'm passionate about helping people discover that there are options outside of Starbucks," Fournier said in a statement. "I refuse to support a company that doesn't respect its workers and much prefer to support smaller chains or independent coffee shops."
Fournier told TheStreet that he is a "tech entrepreneur" and that he enjoys making similar maps such as this. He's also made one called "McCheapest" which color-coded where to find the cheapest to most expensive Big Mac's in the country.
Related: New independent report reveals details behind Starbucks' issues with workers union
Fournier posted "Nahbucks" on Reddit last month under the username "wise_genesis" and has received over 2,200 up votes.
He's noted in some of the comments that data may not be completely accurate — there are some "phantom" businesses from Google Maps and some Starbucks locations could simply include places that serve Starbucks coffee. ScrapeHero says that Starbucks has about 16,420 versus the nearly 19,000 locations that Fournier's map includes.
It remains to be seen whether Fournier's map creates a significant dent in the community of Starbucks users — and some folks avoiding Starbucks can simply turn to Google Maps themselves and quickly filter for coffee shops to accomplish a similar exercise. But his approach is enough to show that there are people out there taking creative approaches to support boycotts of major companies such as this one.
Discuss trade ideas with Hedge Fund Managers and experienced Day Traders. Get Real Money Pro now.
