{"id":574305,"date":"2026-04-09T17:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/574305\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T17:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:50:10","slug":"new-pride-flag-policy-at-philz-coffee-causes-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/574305\/","title":{"rendered":"New pride flag policy at Philz Coffee causes outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philz, the coffee chain that was founded in San Francisco<\/a> and has been operating for more than 20 years, is facing backlash for making the decision to remove pride flags from its cafes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a petition<\/a> that employees launched a few days ago, this \u201crecent decision to remove pride flags from their stores has left many team members and customers feeling confounded and unsupported.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pride flags within the stores hold deep meaning and value to both staff and visitors, symbolizing that these locations are safe and welcoming spaces for all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,\u201d it continues.<\/p>\n

But Philz CEO Mahesh Sadarangani says this measure will make the Bay Area-born cafe chain more welcoming to customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur longstanding support of the LGBTQIA+ community is unchanged,\u201d Sadarangani said in an emailed statement to SFGATE. \u201cWe are working toward creating a more consistent, inclusive experience across all our stores, including removing a variety of flags and other decor. This is a change in how our stores look, not in who we are,\u201d he continued, adding that the company plans to hold a pride event in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMahesh Sadarangani is making a really s\u2014tty decision and it\u2019s bound to backfire, I have no idea what he\u2019s thinking,\u201d a person who said they were\u00a0an employee wrote on social media<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Originally founded in 2003 in San Francisco\u2019s Mission District by Phil Jaber and his son, Jacob, Philz was originally known for its unique, made-to-brew coffees and homey atmosphere. In 2025, however, the company made headlines when private equity firm Freeman Spogli & Co. bought it for $145 million \u2014 and when dozens of employees who invested in the company early on lost their stock options as a result. Today, it operates over\u00a060 locations<\/a> throughout the state, with shops as far south as Orange County and the Inland Empire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir new \u2018consistent experience\u2019 consistently sucks,\u201d one person wrote on Reddit,<\/a> describing the now-shuttered<\/a> 24th street location as an eclectic hangout with thrifted couches and hand-painted murals. \u201cNew Philz\u00a0has none of these things,\u201d they continued. \u201cIt feels like a McDonalds.\u201d Several other people said they stopped going to the chain following the acquisition or now plan to take their money elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask the leadership at Philz Coffee to reconsider their decision and reinstate the pride flags across all their locations,\u201d the petition says. \u201cIn doing so, Philz will reaffirm its commitment to diversity and inclusion, aligning its values with the community it serves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philz petition organizers and Freeman Spogli & Co. representatives did not respond to SFGATE\u2019s requests for comment by the time of publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philz, the coffee chain that was founded in San Francisco and has been operating for more than 20…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,13499],"class_list":{"0":"post-574305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-sfgfood"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}