Business Ethics – Case Study #5
Meet Me at Starbucks
On April 12, 2018, at a Starbucks location in Philadelphia, two black men, Rashon Nelson and
Donte Robinson, were waiting for a friend, Andrew Yaffe. Nelson and Robinson were
entrepreneurs and were going to discuss business investment opportunities with Yaffe, a white
real estate developer. As they waited, an employee asked if she could help them. They said
“no,” that they were just waiting for a business meeting. Then a manager told Nelson that he
couldn’t use the restroom because he was not a paying customer.
Because the two men had not purchased anything yet, a store manager called police, even
though Robinson had been a customer at the store for almost a decade and both men had used
the store location for business meetings before. At least six Philadelphia Police Department
officers arrived. The police officers did not ask the men any questions; they just demanded that
they leave immediately. They declined. The police officers then proceeded to arrest the men for
trespassing. As the arrest occurred, Mr. Yaffe arrived. He said: “Why would they be asked to
leave? Does anyone else think this is ridiculous? It’s absolute discrimination.” The two men
were taken out in handcuffs. They were taken to the police station, photographed, and
fingerprinted. They were held for almost nine hours before being released from custody.
Prosecutors decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge the men with a crime.
After a video of the arrest went viral, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson released a statement: “We
apologize to the two individuals and our customers and are disappointed this led to an arrest.
We take these matters seriously and clearly have more work to do when it comes to how we
handle incidents in our stores. We are reviewing our policies and will continue to engage with
the community and the police department to try to ensure these types of situations never
happen in any of our stores.”
Johnson then announced that every company-owned Starbucks location in the nation would
close on May 29, 2018, for “racial-bias education.” When one customer complained on
Facebook that closing the stores because of just one incident seemed overkill, Starbucks
responded: “There are countless examples of implicit bias resulting in discrimination against
people of color, both in and outside our stores. Addressing bias is crucial in ensuring that all our
customers feel safe and welcome in our stores.” A similar complaint about closing thousands of
stores because of the actions of a handful of employees prompted this response from
Starbucks: “Our goal is to make our stores a safe and welcoming place for everyone, and we
have failed. This training is crucial in making sure we meet our goal.”
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think the manager of the Starbucks in Philadelphia thought of herself as racist?
2. Do you think that what happened to Nelson and Robinson would have happened had they
been white?
3. What stereotypes were invoked in this case and by whom?
4. How did stereotyping influence and/or frame the situation for the manager? For the police?
For bystanders?
5. What is your opinion about Starbucks’ response to the arrest of Nelson and Robinson?
6. Will Starbucks’ training session on implicit bias have a beneficial impact?

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