Workers at a Texas coffee chain quit in protest of ICE policies. Plus, jump scare: people are going to Starbucks again? And bigger jump scare: coffee tariffs are back in the news.
‘Dallas Cafe Workers Quit Jobs in Dispute About Serving ICE Agents’- via the Dallas Observer
On Jan. 22, a manager at White Rhino Coffee publicly quit her job in protest of what she said is the company’s pro-ICE policy.
Margot Stacy resigned from the Dallas-Fort Worth-based specialty coffee chain after alleging that White Rhino required staff to serve U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and to give them a first-responder discount.
Stacy managed a White Rhino location that has a diverse staff and customer base, she told Lauren Drewes Daniels of the Dallas Observer. Before resigning, she had been increasingly worried by the presence of ICE agents in her cafe over the previous few weeks, her anxiety increasing after the murder of Renée Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Stacy told the Observer she asked whether her store could refuse to serve ICE, and was told no because “our stance is to stay apolitical.”
The topic came up again during a management call. According to a worker who wished to remain anonymous, the company reaffirmed its stance on serving ICE agents and offering them a discount. White Rhino provides active-duty police, firefighters, and EMTs a first-responder discount: free drip coffee and 50% off everything else.
After additional follow-up meetings with her district manager, Stacy quit. “I cannot support a company with whom my values do not align,” she wrote on Instagram. “I will not have my spiritual and moral constitution compromised by these positions. I love all our differences, but this is where I must draw the line.” Others at the store also resigned due to the company’s stance on ICE agents, she claimed.
In an emailed statement to the Observer, White Rhino said it “does not offer the first responder discount to ICE agents,” and that the participants on the management call didn’t have authority to implement policies.
As ICE operations spread around the country, coffee businesses and their workers are increasingly feeling the effects. ICE agents have conducted raids on coffee farms in Hawaii, and cafe workers and at least one coffee shop owner has been detained.
In Minnesota, where much of the current ICE presence is currently focused, brands like Starbucks and Caribou Coffee have come under fire in recent weeks. Both companies, according to employees, have policies that require staff to serve ICE agents even if they feel unsafe. Independent shops, many of which are refusing to serve ICE, have emerged as donation drop-off and community organizing hubs.
Read the full story of the ICE policy disagreement here and learn what to do if ICE comes to your coffee shop here.
‘Brazil’s Instant Coffee Sector Seeks Clarity on US Decision To Keep 50% Tariff’ – via Reuters
Just when you thought it was over, coffee tariffs are back in the news.
Reuters reports that Brazilian officials are trying to figure out why instant coffee is still being subject to tariffs. In November, the Trump administration rolled back tariffs on coffee, but for some reason, instant coffee still faces a 50% tariff.
The Brazilian coffee industry association is working with U.S. counterparts to convince the administration that continuing to impose tariffs on instant coffee hurts companies and consumers in both countries. “There’s nothing that could justify this attitude of maintaining tariffs on instant coffee,” the association’s executive director, Celirio Inacio, said.
Despite a 50% tariff being in place for much of the year, Brazil exported a record high of $15.6 billion worth of coffee. In the same year, Brazil exported 28% less instant coffee to the U.S.
The U.S. is by far the largest market for Brazilian-manufactured instant coffee. The increased costs due to the tariffs have led U.S. importers to look for alternative suppliers, Aguinaldo Lima, executive director of the Brazilian Soluble Coffee Industry Association, told Cultivar Magazine. If the tariffs remain in place, Brazilian companies will need to seek new export markets. “This results in a loss of market share for Brazil and an urgent need to reassess market diversification strategies,” Lima said.
Read more on coffee’s instant issues here.
‘Starbucks Sales Jump as Coffee Customers Return’ – via the Wall Street Journal
It’s been sixteen months since he became Starbucks CEO, and it finally looks like Brian Niccol’s turnaround plan may be working.
As Heather Haddon reports for the Wall Street Journal, Starbucks’ latest financial report showed gains in sales, revenue, and customer traffic.
Niccol took over in the fall of 2024, after several quarters of falling sales. He came up with a scheme to revive the brand, called “Back to Starbucks,” that would return the company to its “coffeehouse roots.” Initiatives included paring back the menu, adding comfortable seats, and increasing staffing. During the time Niccol was implementing his plan, he also oversaw the closure of hundreds of stores, laid off thousands of corporate employees, and introduced a policy to cap raises for salaried employees while incentivizing executives with multimillion-dollar bonuses.
Progress on the “Back to Starbucks” plan was slow: Last quarter, sales started to climb, but customers still weren’t lingering like they used to. But now it seems like things are turning around for the plucky megachain.
Same-store sales grew 4% in the U.S., the most growth since late 2023, and Haddon reports that customer traffic “surged” after launching its holiday beverages. Starbucks also plans to open thousands of new shops around the world in the coming years, despite increased competition from drive-thru chains like 7 Brew and Dutch Bros., as well as international brands like Luckin.
“Our Q1 results demonstrate our ‘Back to Starbucks’ strategy is working and we believe we’re ahead of schedule,” Niccol said in a press release. “It’s great to see the sales momentum driven by more customers choosing Starbucks more often, and this is just the beginning.”
Read the full story on Starbucks’ sales upswing here or via Yahoo! Finance here.
More News
‘Is 2026 The Year A Coffee Shop (Finally) Wins A James Beard Award?’ – via Sprudge
‘FDA Updates Recall for Keurig Coffee Pods Labeled as Decaf That May Contain Caffeine’ – via People
‘Caffè Nero Revealed As Compass Coffee Stalking Horse Purchaser’ – via Global Coffee Report
‘Arabica Halts Rally as Market Mulls Prospect of Ample Supplies’ – via Bloomberg
‘Melitta North America Opens State-of-the-Art M-Lab in New Jersey’ – via Daily Coffee News
Coffee and the Climate Crisis
Experts agree that the coffee industry must adopt large-scale sustainable farming practices to mitigate the effects of climate change. To that end, regenerative agriculture has become a popular subject within the coffee industry over the last few years. It focuses on a holistic approach to farming, emphasizing soil health and biodiversity. While there is concern that the term could become yet another corporate sustainability buzzword, researchers and farmers have attested to its promise.
According to a 2025 report by TechnoServe, investing in regenerative agriculture practices can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase farmer income. The report found that a total industry investment of $560 million per year over seven years would increase farmer income by an average of 62% while reducing emissions by 3.5 million tons annually.
Technoserve emphasized the importance of private-sector investment for these changes to work. Two of the biggest coffee companies on the planet, Nestlé and JDE Peet’s, are doing just that. Last week, JDE Peet’s announced its “Nature Transition Plan,” which aims to expand its existing regenerative agriculture programs and advance “deforestation-free coffee supply chains,” according to a press release.
JDE Peet’s states its goal is to expand regenerative agriculture practices to an extra 200,000 hectares of coffee-producing land by 2030. Additionally, the company aims to “move towards 100% responsibly sourced green coffee by 2028,” although its original goal was 100% by 2025.
Nestlé, meanwhile, announced new collaborations in its bid to scale regenerative agriculture and encourage young people to take up farming. The company is working with The Nature Conservancy and the youth-oriented education platform Goodwall. It’s part of a billion-dollar investment the food and beverage giant is making into regenerative agriculture across its business.
The world’s biggest coffee companies can play a consequential role in moving the industry toward more sustainable farming practices—largely because they source and purchase a substantial amount of coffee each year. According to the 2020 Coffee Barometer, 10 companies buy 35% of all coffee produced each year. JDE Peet’s and Nestlé account for a large chunk of that: JDE Peet’s says that it sources 8% of the world’s green coffee each year, while Nestlé purchases 13 million 60-kilo bags, or nearly 7.5%. For comparison, Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee shop chain, buys 3%.
Beyond the Headlines
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‘Brewed In Ink: The Unexpected Connections Between Coffee And Fountain Pens’ by Jenn Chen
