Starbucks employees take coffee break for racial bias training

More than 8,000 Starbucks coffee shops in the United States will be closed Tuesday afternoon so that employees can undergo racial bias training.

The company announced the training just days after an incident in April in a Starbucks in Philadelphia in which two black men were arrested while waiting for a friend. An employee called police because the men, who had not made a purchase, refused to leave after they were denied use of the toilet.

A video of the arrest of Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson posted on social media caused a furore over racial profiling. Starbucks made headlines again earlier this month after an employee wrote a racial slur on a customer's cup.

The incidents exposed discrimination that black Americans say they face regularly in restaurants and other public places in the US.

Starbucks said its 175,000 employees at its more than 8,000 company-owned stores and offices across the US will close in the afternoon "for a conversation and learning session on race, bias and the building of a diverse welcoming company."

Starbucks Executive Vice President Rossann Williams said last week in a message sent to Starbucks partners that the company hopes the training "will make a difference within and beyond our stores."

Nelson and Robinson agreed not to sue Philadelphia when the city met their request that it fund a 200,000-dollar programme for Philadelphia public high school students who aspire to become entrepreneurs.

Neither man will receive any money from the grant, but they were given the symbolic sum of 1 dollar each under the agreement.