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A Bay Area coffee shop chain is facing heavy backlash this week after its CEO confirmed that Pride flags and other decor will be removed from various locations — ostensibly to promote an “inclusive experience” for customers.
Workers at Philz Coffee launched a Change.org petition earlier this week, protesting a decision by management to remove rainbow Pride flags and other decor from its roughly 60 locations across California and Illinois. The chain was previously known in California for prominently displaying Pride and Black Lives Matter flags at its various storefronts.
CEO Mahesh Sadarangani confirmed the decision in a statement to KRON on Wednesday, saying that the chain isn’t backing away from its “longstanding support” for LGBTQ+ people.
“We are working toward creating a more consistent, inclusive experience across all our stores, including removing a variety of flags and other decor,” Sadarangani wrote. “This is a change in how our stores look, not in who we are. Our allyship runs deeper than what is on our walls.”
A Philz manager at one San Francisco location additionally told KRON that Sadarangani had told stores to “consider whether in-store displays make all customers feel included” during a recent company summit. It is still unclear when the new policy would take effect.
A Pride flag seen at a Philz Coffee.
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In the petition, workers called on management to reverse the changes, saying the flags held “deep meaning and value to both staff and visitors,” many of whom are LGBTQ+ themselves.
“Removing these flags risks alienating a core group of team members and loyal customers who see Philz not just as a coffee shop, but as a place where they are embraced and celebrated for who they are,” workers wrote. The petition had received over 2,400 signatures at time of writing Thursday.
On the San Francisco subreddit, patrons and workers alike lambasted the announcement, speculating about whether it was a mandate from the company’s new ownership. When private equity firm Freeman Spogli bought Philz last August for $145 million, Sadarangani drew criticism at the time for allegedly telling former employees not to sell company stock, which became worthless after the sale.
“A bunch of us are opposed to [the flags’ removal], many of the staff are queer, it’s one man making the decision,” wrote one Redditor who claimed to be a current Philz employee. “It’s important to name and shame.”
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Philz has faced several rounds of unrelated political backlash in the past six years, including several incidents in 2020, when 181 workers were laid off during clashes over the company’s pandemic safety compliance and support for police. In 2023, five workers were sent home from a shift for wearing pro-Palestine pins, prompting the shop’s entire staff to unionize. (Philz co-founders Phil and Jacob Jaber are Palestinian-Americans.)
Some on social media commented they were unlikely to return to Philz even if the policy is rescinded. “[I]f they cave and keep the flags they’ll still be anti-queer, so why should we keep giving them money?” one Redditor mused. “Protest by buying coffee elsewhere.”
The new Philz policy comes amid a conservative campaign to remove Pride iconography from both public and private locations across the U.S. The Trump administration has led the federal charge, removing an official Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in February after ordering the removal of trans flags last year. The incident is currently the subject of a lawsuit from the Gilbert Baker Foundation. Republican-controlled states including Florida and Texas have also taken steps to remove rainbow flags and other symbols from public buildings and crosswalks.
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