Restaurants & Bars
Seattle's Caffe Vita Pens Apology After Backlash
The coffee chain drew swift criticism after sending a controversial letter to employees.
SEATTLE, WA — After several days of blowback surrounding a pair of firings and a controversial letter on homlessness, the owners of Seattle's Caffe Vita chain are responding to their critics. In a post on Instagram, Liz and Mike McConnell expressed regret at including a sentence stating that giving handouts to those living on the street "enables, increases and promotes homelessness."
The post goes on to promise changes in the future and encourages the public to reach out to them and give input on how to move forward. The letter does not address the employees that were fired or say if those people would be re-hired.
Read the full post:
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View this post on InstagramDear Caffe Vita Community, We sent out an email to Caffe Vita staff which was intended to clarify our policy around coffee and food giveaways. Regretfully, it also stated that giving away free food and drink without comprehensive services enables homelessness. We want to apologize to our employees, partners, supporters, and neighbors for these words as they do not reflect the love and respect we have for our community. We can do better. We are assessing our policies and communications to ensure they reflect our company’s values and our community’s needs. We are actively reading feedback and input sent to [email protected]. Please know that we remain committed to diversity and inclusion and are dedicated to proactively lifting up underrepresented community members, including our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Thank you for your patience and support and for being part of the Vita community. Liz & Mike Caffe Vita
A post shared by Caffé Vita Coffee Roasting (@caffevita) on Oct 3, 2019 at 11:10am PDT
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