NINA BANKS
managing editor
nina.banks@my.tccd.edu
Some TCC students are boycotting Starbucks, but Caffe Noliz and Trinity Brews isn’t taking the hit.
On Oct. 9, Starbucks Workers United, a union for Starbucks employees, posted “Solidarity with Palestine!” on the social media platform X. The post was deleted shortly thereafter.
Starbucks’ Executive Vice President Sara Kelly released a statement stating that the company “strongly disagree with the views expressed by Workers United” and announced they would be suing SWU.
In response, many customers, including TR student Norma Vizcaino, have decided to boycott Starbucks.
“I have a lot of nephews and I want to be a good example for them,” Vizcaino said. “I don’t want to be like “Yeah I still went to Starbucks even though I knew paid for people’s deaths.””
TR administrative assistant of student activities Isaac Woodke previously worked for Starbucks and hasn’t purchased their products since leaving the company.
“I’m all for the boycott myself,” Woodke said. “I think it needs to happen. It’s incredible and I know that a lot of sales in Starbucks in general are seeing it. They’re getting hit really hard with it and are kind of suffering from it.”
TCC’s Caffe Noliz is a “We Proudly Serve Starbucks” location owned by vendor ECI Management. Corporate Starbucks makes a profit through up charging Starbucks products by 23%, such as cups, cold brew and paper products.
Woodke acknowledges that students may not understand the difference between a “We Proudly Serve Starbucks” location like Caffe Noliz and actual Starbucks stores.
“The products are from that company, however, the profits aren’t going towards Starbucks,” they said. “As far as our café, I know that ECI owns our café. I don’t know if boycotting our café would be on the same level as boycotting an actual Starbucks. I think that can be especially confusing because should we boycott it altogether or places owned by other companies OK to participate in?”
Trinity Brews worker Imelda Chavez noticed students’ confusion about buying from their location.
“It’s not really a Starbucks because ECI gets the money,” Chavez said. “Some people do ask. I think someone asked the other day if we were working for Starbucks or another company.”
According to ECI Management president Frank Ricupati, NE Caffe Noliz served an average of 172 customers a day from Sep. 9 to Oct. 15. From Oct. 9 to Nov. 15, NE Caffe Noliz served an average of 165 customers. Ricupati is not concerned about the boycott affecting Caffe Noliz.
“We Proudly Serve is a completely different license,” Ricupati said. “I don’t anticipate that it would affect us at all. You never know though. But at this point, it hasn’t affected us at all.”
TR Trinity Brews worker Gustavo Sanchez recalled less students coming in on his shift Nov. 24.
“We haven’t had any customers in the last hour,” Sanchez said. “We only had one and they didn’t even order from us. They just got chips and a soda.”
Vizcaino believes the boycott has the potential to impact Caffe Noliz.
“Starbucks is even on military ships which I thought was wild,” she said. “You vote with your money now.”
