Starbucks shuts down for afternoon of racial-bias training

Those seeking a caffeine boost Tuesday night afternoon will need to make their way to Dunkin’ Donuts or Kaladi Brothers instead of Starbucks.

The Seattle-based coffee giant is planning to shutter more than 8,000 U.S. stores for “a conversation and learning session on race, bias and the building of a diverse and welcoming community” with 175,000 of the company’s partners, as employees are known.

The half-day shutdown from 2 to 3 p.m. local time is expected to cost $12 million in lost sales, according to an estimate by MarketWatch.

The training, which comes in response to last month’s high-profile arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia shop, will feature video messages on racial bias narrated by Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson and the rapper Common, and a short film by documentary director Stanley Nelson.

“What’s been happening with black men in America and black people, Starbucks is just a microcosm of how black people have been dehumanized,” Common said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “And I wanted to be a part of that conversation. It’s important that you have a black man standing up and saying what we need.”

While the Tuesday training is centered on race, Starbucks has said that the company will later “address many other facets of what makes us truly human,” expanding its effort to encompass a host of identity-politics categories.

“The work will grow to reflect the realities of our abilities, ethnicities, gender identities and expressions, sexual identities, class, language, citizenship, political views, religious affiliations, and more,” said a five-minute Starbucks video about its diversity training.

The company announced last week that stores will no longer restrict restroom use to paying customers, saying that anyone may use its “restrooms, cafes and patios, regardless of whether they make a purchase.”

The nationwide overhaul comes after a Starbucks manager called the police on two black men who sat at a table and asked to use the restroom as they waited for a third person to join them for a business meeting.

Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson ultimately settled with Starbucks for an undisclosed sum and college tuition offer. They reached a settlement with the city for a symbolic $1 and an agreement to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.

For hard-core Starbucks fans, there will be options. About 41 percent of Starbucks locations are not company-owned, typically those in airports, grocery stores, hotels and college campuses, and are expected to keep serving.

• This story was based in part on wire service reports.