Amid a reversal of its open door policy, Starbucks tested out adding panic buttons in U.S. stores for employees to use if they felt unsafe. When pressed, the button alerted the company’s local security team and remotely locked the store’s front doors.
Closing doors. Announced earlier this month, Starbucks’ new policy requires people to make a purchase to hang out in its lounges or use its bathroom. It’s a reversal of a 2018 open door policy that considered “any person who enters our spaces” a customer, whether they made a purchase or not.
Although the company’s open door policy looked good on paper, it led to issues at some of its stores. These included people who slept on its chairs or stayed in the bathroom for hours; an influx of homeless people who workers were not trained to assist; and unruly teens.
Starbucks spokeswoman Jaci Anderson told the Associated Press that the new rules were designed to prioritize paying customers.
“We want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable in our stores,” Anderson said. “By setting clear expectations for behavior and use of our spaces, we can create a better environment for everyone.”
Potential consequences. Starbucks explained that employees would receive training on how to enforce the new policy. These included de-escalation tactics if customers refused to leave, according to Fortune. However, some employees believe this training will be enough to deal with potentially tense situations.
A Starbucks employee in Philadelphia, who was not named, told the outlet that some people aren’t likely to respond well to the new policy. The employee said their store is “high incident,” which means that employees are receive harassment and “verbal abuse” from customers.
“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.”
Over on the r/Starbucks subreddit, some employees appeared frustrated over having to become “bouncers” on top of their other responsibilities.
![Starbucks Panic Button No Loitering](https://i.blogs.es/88358d/starbucks-panic-button-no-loitering/450_1000.jpeg)
The panic buttons. Given these concerns, Starbucks’ move to install panic buttons in some of its stores wasn’t surprising. However, the panic buttons were only installed in five stores in the U.S. in a small pilot on optimizing in-store security. In 2024, Starbucks had nearly 17,000 company-operated and licensed stores in the U.S.
According to Starbucks, the panic buttons aren’t getting rolled out to more stores, stating that it “frequently testing many things to see what works and what doesn’t.For what it’s worth, the Starbucks employee that spoke to Fortune had one of the buttons installed in his store. They said they hadn’t been trained on when it was appropriate to use the panic button.
Cheat codes. Starbucks’ new policy officially went into effect on Monday. As of publication, it doesn’t look like there’s been any high-profile incidents of chaos or dissent or the pay-or-go-away initiative. Some employees against the new policy are using Reddit to tell people the cheapest thing available to buy so they can stay in the store.
“If a barista gets suspicious of you, definitely DON'T purchase a cream cheese for $1.00, an avocado spread for $1.25, or a bag of butter popcorn for $1.50 (some of our cheapest items) so you can stay as long as you want,” a self-identified Starbucks employee said on r/Starbucks. “And please know that we were instructed to police EVERY PERSON that asks to use the bathroom. So please DON'T tell us that you'll buy something after you use the bathroom, and then leave right after, because we'll definitely do something about it!”
Images | Justus Menke | June Andrei George
Log in to leave a comment