Starbucks reconsidering open bathroom policy due to safety fears: CEO Schultz

Starbucks is considering an end to the “open bathroom” policy at its stores 💙due to mounting concerns about public safety, CEO Howard Schultz said.

Schultz said Starbucks was exploring whether to alter the🌼 policy, which allows non-customers to use store bathrooms, due to✅ a nationwide “mental health” problem that was posing difficulties for the coffeehouse chains’ employees.

“There is an issue of, just, safety in our stores, in terms of people coming in who use our stores as a public bathroom,” Schultz said event Thursday. “We have to provide a 🌃safe environment for ꩲour people and our customers. The mental health crisis in the country is severe, acute and getting worse.”

“We have to harden our stores and provide safety for our people,” Schul💯tz added. “I don’t know if we can keep our bathrooms open.

Starbucks has allowed open use of its store bathrooms since May 2018. The Seattle-based company implemented the policy after an incident at a Philadelphia store in which police arrested two Black men after a Starbucks manager denied them 𒐪from using the bathroom and accused them of🦄 trespassing.

At the time, the com👍pany announced that “any customer is welcome to use Starbucks spaces, including our restrooms, cafes and patios, regardless of whether they make a purchase.”

Starbucks apologized for its handling of the incident and closed all of its US stor𒁏es for one day to conduct racial-bias training. The company als🌳o reached a financial settlement with the two men.

Starbucks representatives did no🎐t immediately return a request for further comments on Schultz’s remarks.

Schultz has served as Starbucks’ interim CEO since April after the retiremen💞t of the company’s old boss, Kevin Johnson.

Schultz, who is in his third stint as Starbucks’ top boss, is tasked with leading the company’s response to a growing labor movement among its staffers.

Individual Starbucks stores in New York and other states around the country have voted to unionize in recent months, citing a desire for better tr💧eatment and benefits. Starbucks has faced allegations of union-busting in response to the movement, but the company denies wrongdoi⛄ng.