People from across the country are rallying around a Missouri City, Texas coffee shop after a neighboring Starbucks demonstrated some questionable behavior.
In an Instagram post that has since gone viral, a person who is reportedly the manager of a Starbucks can be seen walking into Bean Here Coffee (located just next door) with a sign in their hands. It turns out that the sign, which features a list of Bean Here’s seasonal drinks and which the small business says was on their own property, was pulled out of the ground by the Starbucks manager.
According to the person who uploaded security footage of the encounter, the exchange started off friendly, but quickly went south. The Starbucks manager allegedly claimed that they were “protecting” their holiday menu by removing the sign. Then this person reportedly said, “You can put it back, but we’ll keep pulling it out.”
Video of the incident has been flooded with thousands of comments from people eager to come to Bean Here’s defense. One person even urged the coffee shop to call 911 on the Starbucks manager.
“Bold to bully a small company in behalf of another company who would replace you in a heartbeat,” one person pointed out.
Bean Here Coffee confirmed with Delish that Starbucks has not reached out to the shop regarding the matter.
“I don’t expect an apology from Starbucks—they seemed to want to reach out to news outlets more than just coming in here to talk it through, which they could easily have done just as they did when they walked in here to bring our sign back, along with the harassing tone and warning,” Mike Ouano, a rep for Bean Here Coffee shared with Delish. “[As for] the manager, I’m a little dismayed by the interaction, but ultimately it’s not his fault, he was merely told what to do, a big part of why I blurred his face in the video.”
The Missouri City coffee shop has since offered its thanks to the people who have come out in full force to show their support.
“Thank you all for the additional love and support these last few days. It’s been a bit emotional for us here seeing how many of you came in droves and post about your support for us. It’s very much welcome, very much appreciated and quite humbling to see the sheer amount of encouragement you’ve given us,” the message posted on Instagram read.
Danielle Harling is an Atlanta-based freelance writer with a love for colorfully designed-spaces, craft cocktails and online window shopping (usually for budget-shattering designer heels). Her past work has appeared on Fodor’s, Forbes, MyDomaine, Architectural Digest and more.