If you live in a city, you’re probably like me, a Starbucks surfer, the kind of casual customer who nonchalantly parks themselves in the corner to freeload on wifi, or conduct a discreet job interview, or simply enjoy the solitude of someone else’s space. Who needs a park or library when Starbucks is our new community center? Or is it? The company’s latest diversity debacle has shaken its values to their core, after it was revealed the manager of one of its Philadelphia outlets had called police to remove two black men who hadn’t purchased anything. Turns out they were waiting for a friend, a crime most of us commit almost every day. In response, executive chairman Howard Schultz and CEO Kevin Johnson travelled to Philadelphia to meet with police, employees and community leaders. The company also announced it will close more than 8,000 outlets for an afternoon on May 29 to provide anti-bias training to nearly 175,000 employees. Possible lost revenue: US$20 million.

The revelation and reaction are all the more startling because Starbucks wrote the book on corporate social responsibility—wiring all its stores with renewable energy by 2020, hiring 10,000 refugees by 2022 and putting 25,000 employees through college by 2025. Maybe now it’s rewriting the book on damage control, by running to its problems rather than running away from them. It’s got some experience. In 2015, at the height of Black Lives Matter, Starbucks hatched a misconceived plan to get employees to write “Race Together” on customers’ cups to get them talking about the issues. Social media was unforgiving. And yet, two years later, long after Schultz had apologized for Race Together, the NAACP honoured him for his decades of diversity work. His approach may pay off again. Starbucks’ stock is up 1% this week.

—John Stackhouse