Starbucks says it spent nearly $800m with diverse supplies in 2021 | Photo credit: Starbucks Coffee Company

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Starbucks has released new operational data and made new spending pledges as part of its commitment to supporting Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities and workers in the US.
 
The Seattle-based coffee chain said it had spent nearly $800m with diverse suppliers in 2021, supporting 6,400 jobs and contributing to $1.2bn in ‘total direct, indirect and induced economic impact’ in the US.
 
However, Starbucks said it wanted its Supplier Diversity and Inclusion programme, first launched in 1998, to go much further, and committed to spending $1.5bn with diverse suppliers annually by 2030.
 
Part of the commitment includes a pledge to allocate 15% of its advertising budget with minority-owned and targeted media companies to reach diverse audiences. Starbucks also said it would launch a free open-source toolkit on the fundamentals of how to run a successful business for diverse-owned entrepreneurs in partnership with Arizona State University.
 
The company also restated its goal of achieve BIPOC representation of at least 30% at all corporate levels and at least 40 percent of all retail and manufacturing roles by 2025 in the US.
 
Reporting on its US workforce demographic, Starbucks said its partner base was 71.3% female and 48.2% BIPOC, with the latter group comprising 7.7% Black, 28.5% Hispanic or Latinx, 5.9% Asian, 4.8% Two or More Races, 0.6% American Indian or Alaskan Native and 0.5% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Specific data on its senior leadership team was not reported, however. 
 
As part of a $100m under-represented community fund first announced in January 2021, Starbucks also revealed seven community lenders that will be issued with a first funding round of $21m.
 
“These commitments are in addition to the actions we’ve already taken on the realisation of our vision to create an inclusive Starbucks,” said Dennis Brockman, Starbucks Chief Global Inclusion and Diversity Officer.
 
“We all have a role to contribute and it’s with that purpose in mind that we continue to invest in these areas for all partners. Learning comes by doing, and that’s what we are committed to,” Brockman added.
 
In November 2021, Starbucks posted full-year revenues of $29.1bn – 9.8% higher than the $26.5bn earned in 2019. The coffee chain now operates more than 33,800 stores around the world, 62% of which are in the US and China, with 15,450 and 5,360 stores in each market respectively.