- Starbucks will implement a policy next week preventing non-paying customers from using the bathroom or sitting down in coffee-shop seats. The company is training employees to deal with pushback on the policy, which includes “utilizing de-escalation tactics” where necessary, according to an employee.
Starbucks is preparing its baristas to turn away store visitors hoping to refill water bottles or use the bathroom without buying a coffee or pastry. The coffee chain’s workers, known as “partners,” completed a three-hour training on how to enforce the customer-only policy that takes effect next week.
Beginning Jan. 27, Starbucks is implementing a new code of conduct requiring customers to purchase something in order to sit down at the shop, use the bathroom, or get a water bottle refill. Ahead of the changes, the coffee chain asked employees to enforce the policy, instructing them to “utilize de-escalation tactics” if visitors refuse to comply with the new standards, a Starbucks employee told Fortune.
During the training, workers were given a scenario on how to respond to a regular patron who frequents and sits down at a store for extended periods without buying anything, according to internal documents, Business Insider reported. Per the documents, employees should "listen to the customer's concern and kindly reiterate the intended use of our space,” use de-escalation strategies as needed, and alert a manager to the situation.
The purpose of the training is to instill confidence in workers “encouraging them to warmly acknowledge and engage with every person in our store, treating them with kindness, respect, and assuming positive intent,” Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson told Fortune in a statement.
The Starbucks employee, who works as a barista at a store in Center City, Philadelphia, told Fortune during the training, baristas were asked to “essentially keep track” of customers who used Starbucks’ amenities without purchasing anything by remembering those customers’ names and faces. Those customers would effectively be banned from the store should they try to visit again, though the employee did not say how the ban would be enforced.
Starbucks implemented its open-door policy in 2018 following the arrest of two Black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks. The men visited the store for a business meeting, but did not purchase anything as they waited for a third person to join the meeting. The store had a policy asking non-paying customers to leave, and the arrest was caught on video. It was an embarrassment for a coffee chain marketing itself as welcoming and socially conscious.
The change in the company’s code of conduct more than six years later is among a series of sweeping changes new CEO Brian Niccol is implementing to get “back to Starbucks” and become a third space. That includes adding for-here ceramic cups and comfier seating in hopes that customers—at least those willing to pay for a latte or croissant—will linger in stores longer.
“We want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable in our stores,” Starbucks spokesperson Anderson said. “By setting clear expectations for behavior and use of our spaces, we can create a better environment for everyone.”
Employee concerns
Not all Starbucks employees are happy with the policy change. The Philadelphia Starbucks employee said in his store, the “vast majority [of baristas] dislike it,” with some believing it's anti-homeless, particularly as public bathrooms in the U.S. remain sparse.
The employee said he also works in a “high-incident” store where customers harass or “verbally abuse” workers. There’s concern among store workers that the new policy could lead to an increase in customer discontent, but that Starbucks won’t have made system-wide changes—like allowing baristas to easily limit incoming digital orders during tense customer interactions—to handle the potential increase in stressors.
“We know that these situations are going to happen more frequently in our store,” the employee said. “And we will not be able to take the measures that we need to make ourselves safe.”
Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), which represents more than 11,000 company employees, said workers should have more of a say in vast company changes and how baristas should go about enforcing code of conduct changes. According to Starbucks, the new code of conduct addresses the issues the union has raised in the past.
"Every barista knows how enforcing Starbucks' policies is part of our everyday responsibilities on the job,” SBWU told Fortune in a statement. “That's why we are requesting more information from Starbucks and calling on the company to bargain over code of conduct enforcement.”
