Starbucks close 8,000 stores in US today for staff racial bias training

Starbucks is to close 8,000 of their US stores today to provide their staff with "unconscious bias training."

180,000 Starbucks workers will receive the training today to focus on "understanding prejudice and the history of public accommodations in the United States." This comes after a manager called the police on two black men who were waiting for a friend in a Philadelphia store in April. The men were later arrested. The training will take place this afternoon in stores across the US in attempt to get staff to open up about racial bias and stereotypes when serving people of colour and other minorities. Starbucks is working with The Perception Institute to ensure that their training has a positive effect on workers and customer experiences. They have said racial bias and stereotypes can be positive or negative and that they tend to make assumptions about a person or group of people based on the colour of their skin, their gender, or their identity. Today's training is expected to cost the coffee shop chain up to $12 million due to profit losses, according to USA Today. However, it is expected that the training will have a largely positive effect in the long run.