Oakland-based Blue Bottle Coffee shut down all of its US stores for two days in solidarity with protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.
Founded in Oakland nearly twenty years ago by W. James Freeman, Blue Bottle raised $70 million in a 2015 venture-capital round, according to the Financial Times. In 2017, Nestlé became a majority stakeholder. Blue Bottle’s 91 stores are located in California, New York, Washington D.C., and Boston — as well as Seoul, Kyoto, Kobe, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
As reported at DailyCoffeeNews, the company also announced that it is making a $150,000 donation to be split between three different nonprofits.
“Our Blue Bottle community is in pain. We are a nation in pain. Today and tomorrow … we are temporarily closing all our US cafes in consideration of the ongoing protests unfolding across the country,” read the company’s official statement, issued on May 31.
“But we will not be silent.
“We are donating $150,000 divided equally among Black Lives Matter, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Bring the H.E.A.T. This is just a start. We stand with our black communities all across this nation in solidarity, support, and care. Care to speak up. To listen. To change,” Blue Bottle’s statement read.
