After incurring backlash and national press coverage over its decision to remove Pride flags from its cafés, San Francisco-born Philz Coffee doubled down on the policy and provided more details about it in a confidential memo sent to employees Friday that was obtained by the Chronicle.
The memo from CEO Mahesh Sadarangani was printed on company letterhead marked “confidential.” It references Sadarangani’s visits to stores in recent weeks to talk about “changes to our store decor & flags” and reiterates that the new policy “may include removing a variety of flags and other decor.”
Sadarangani did not apologize for the flag policy in the memo, but expressed some regret for how it was communicated, writing, “We hear and deeply understand that we did not handle changes to store decor as well as we should have, especially as true allies to the community. Some of our team members have shared that those changes felt personal.”…