Dark History - 104: The Secrets of Starbucks - Pumpkin Spiced Lies | Dark History with Bailey Sarian

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

Welcome to the Dark History podcast. It’s FALL, baby, and pumpkin spice season is upon us. What better time to do a dark dive into the dirty secrets of Starbucks? From killing thousands of orangutans to racial discrimination, their history is anything but sweet. It’s honestly surprising that they’re still around with all of these scandals. Stay tuned for more Dark History next week! Episode Advertisers Include: Apostrophe, Hello Fresh, Ouai, & ShipStation. Learn more during the podcast about special offers!

Time to bust out your ugly boots, sweater vest, and big ass scarves because it's fall baby! Yes! Leaves are falling. Scarecrow's are scarecrowing. There's something always depressing in the air, and I freaking love it! And if there's anything you know about us bitches, we be lovin' fall! And once that first leaf hits the ground, it's time to haul your ass over to your local Starbucks and pick up a pumpkin spice latte.

Don't lie, I know you're doing that right now. Yeah, it's PSL season baby. I mean, in 2022 alone, Starbucks sold 22 million pumpkin spice lattes. They've really become part of the culture, especially when it comes to the holidays. They're everywhere. But when I did a little snooping around into this $113 billion company, I came across child labor rights violations, the deaths of tens of thousands of orangutans, and the subject're having a wonderful day today.

My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Hi, here we believe history does not have to be boring. I mean, yes, it might be tragic, it might be happy, rarely. But either way, it's our dark history. So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and let's talk about that hot, juicy history, gots. Okay, so today, can you tell by, sorry, Paul, I forgot your name. Can you tell from Paul and Joan over here

what we're talking about? Starbucks! I know. I know what you're thinking. Bailey, don't take my Starbucks away from me. It's all I have. You're like, I don't care if my pumpkin spice latte doesn't have real pumpkin in it.

And growl, I get it. I mean, I don't bite into a strawberry starburst and think, you know, this shit better have real strawberry in it. I mean, we know what we're getting into. But when I was snooping around into Starbucks, I was shooketh by the amount of stuff they get away with. I mean, they're on every corner, which is crazy because

you would think of all the scandals that I'm going to tell you about. At least one would have like shut them down, but no. Starbucks is always thriving and we're addicted years ago. One of my subscribers had recommended the strength to me and I've never looked back. I get the Vente iced green tea matcha with two pumps vanilla, two pumps dry. You're welcome, try it. It tastes just like cereal milk.

It's so good. But now, I'm not sure if it's worth it. But before I get right into Starbucks, I think it's important for us to know a little bit more about coffee, right? I mean, it is coffee. And because we're talking about Starbucks specifically, I'm not going to get too into the, like, any ancient history, what is important to know is that for a long time coffee, just like spices, was not for everyone.

It was only for the elite. Ooh, fancy. No coffee for you, peasant. And that's how it was in the United States, too. I mean, that is until the Industrial Revolution, which happened from 1760 to 1840. This was essentially time when factories started to take over manufacturing

and they were making everything. There was a big influx of people moving to the cities for factory jobs. People left, you know, their country living behind. And the nice thing about these factories in America is that they were making things way more efficiently. I mean, tons of important technology we still use today was invented,

like the telephone and the light bulb. And foods that had once only been for the elite were now cheaper to produce, which meant that the everyday person was able to buy it. For example, like coffee during this time, too big coffee companies emerged, and you're probably familiar with them. One of them is Folgers.

Yeah, Folgers, okay. And then the second one is Maxwell House. Yeah, feed me, see more. Come on, Maxwell House. Yeah, feed me, see more. Come on, Maxwell House. So these two companies became the coffee brands that like everyone could afford. It was packaged in a factory, installed in grocery stores,

and suddenly, booth, coffee was for the people. Rome wasn't built in a day, you know? And the shift of coffee going from bougie to basic didn't happen overnight. It took like a really long time. Coffee historians think that between 1950 and 1970 is what coffee experts call the first wave of coffee in America. And we were hooked, honestly, we were hooked.

Now by this point, coffee was everywhere. It was in diners, it was in the home, and it was making all types of people just shit themselves and hit their deadlines. So around the 1970s, people shifted from thinking of coffee as an afterthought, like something you would have with your pot. And now people were going to actual coffee shops for coffee specifically. Like this was mind blowing. It made purchasing coffee feel almost special and kind of luxurious. Before that coffee was just something you would get a diner or something to drink to keep you away. And now it was becoming a cultural movement. Well, time goes by, you know, and in the 80s, decaf comes into play, blah, blah, blah, nobody really cared, but then when the 90s came,

it had a big impact on coffee, because there were popular television programs, like friends and sign fills, and this actually influenced people to start wanting to hang out at coffee shops, and they did. I mean, it was cool. It was just like the characters on their favorite show. And this was because coffee shops

were a perfect example of what people today call a third place. I know, I was like, I don't get it, what is that? It's not your home, it's not your work, it's the third place, neutral territory. Somewhere where friends can hang out, then people's expectations shifted a bit and people started to want higher quality

and better tasting coffee. And instead of just like milk and sugar in their coffee, the people demanded more choice in how their coffee was made. Like they want lattes, frappuccinos, shaken expressos. Consumers wanted their coffee to be special, just like them.

Essentially everyone started to kind of think of themselves as like some, you know, coffee snob. And then remember in the 2000s, the early 2000s when all those celebrities were out and about in their bead-assled hugs, juicy couture, velour jumpsuit, holding those big fancy coffee cups. Remember, come on. There were like paparazzi pictures of Brittany and Paris on their cell phones, giant sunglasses, you know, just slurping on a Frappuccino with extra whip. And as a teenager, I was like,

I don't know what they're drinking, but I want that. That's so cool. Eventually, America hit the information age. And this was like the start of mass media, marketing, and the internet. People just in general had access to more information, and the public started to get curious

about where their coffee came from. They didn't want to buy chain store coffee anymore. It was too basic. Now people want to support small shops where their beans were sourced, ethically, and organically. So we got the coffee snobs asking about where their coffee beans come from. And then we had the average Joe's,

who was just mixing up his instant bulgers with coffee main. Simple life, just kind of a big divide. And that brings us into a new age of coffee, which was led by one of the new giants in coffee culture, talking about star folks. Oh, star bucks, my bad. This week's episode of Dark History is sponsored by a posh-cher-feel look. We've all been there, whether it's prom or your sister's wedding or, you know, the first day of work, an important meeting, acne seems to pop up at the worst times, right?

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Hello, this code is only available to our listeners and to get started, just go to apostrophe.com slash dark history and then click get started. Then use our code dark history. That's sign up and you'll get your first visit for only $5. I beg thank you tophy for sponsoring this episode. Now let's get back to today's story! Two tales, a great set of titties and a fantastic bush. No, I'm not talking about me. I'm actually talking about the original Starbucks logo, but I'm flattered. Thank you. Once upon a time, on March 30, 1971, the very first Starbucks opened up. Three friends named Jerry Baldwin, Zeb Seagal, and Gordon Balger were all obsessed with coffee. I guess they had met at the University of San Francisco, and it was there that they had

learned the art of coffee roasting. And the man they gained this knowledge from was a guy named Alfred Pete. Alfred Pete was actually the founder of another coffee company called Pete's Coffee. I know. I've actually never had Pete's, but I see it all the time. It's kind of pricey. So these guys, these three amigos, had learned everything under Mr. Pete himself. And then what did they do? Jerry Zev and Gordon, when often founded Starbucks.

Jerry Zev and Gordon just loved a nautical theme. I know. So they wanted their new coffee shop to have a nautical name, something that would make you think about adventure. The early days of coffee being traded and far away lands. I guess Gordon initially suggested that the name be Pequod after the name of the ship in the novel Moby Dick.

Well, Gordon was overruled, but they refused to give up on their nautical theme. And guess what the name of the Pequod's first mate was? Starbuck. Yes, so they added an S. Starbuck's. Great. And the logo wasn't green like the one we've come to know. Originally it was brown and featured a, like a more,

like anatomically correct mermaid. Starbucks started out as like a place where you could buy some quality coffee beans and then you could take them home and like brew them yourself. At their first location in Seattle, there wasn't even like a place to sit down. You just come in, you get your beans, and you get the fuck out. Now, income's a man named Howard Shulves. Now this guy in the 70s, he decided to head on down to the original Starbucks and like check it

out for himself because he sees that the real busy and stuff and he wants to know what's going on. He's curious. And I guess he was a really impressed. He liked what he saw. And in 1982, he joined Starbucks as the director of marketing. And Howard, he had a vision. Okay. After going on a trip to Milan, Italy, he noticed that the coffee shops there kind of gave the community that third place hang out by that I mentioned, you know.

A place in between home and work. And Howard wondered like, why doesn does this exist in the US? So he brings it to the people at Starbucks, and he's like, hey, what then we do this? But this idea was a little too much for the Starbucks founders, I guess. I mean, they could not compute, look, having a coffee shop where people could sit,

what, like smooth jazz? They did not believe that this would ever work. Howard couldn't convince them of this outrageous concept for their Seattle coffee bars. So in 1985, he ends up leaving the company. The next year, he opened up his own little coffee bar, but still, I mean, he always had Starbucks in the back of his mind.

In 1987, Howard took his coffee shop and made it public, so he got a bunch of money from investors, and with all this new money, he ends up buying Starbucks. At this point, Starbucks already was like doing well, and he wanted it, because then he would get the name. He just kind of feels petty as shit. You know, he's like, just watch what I can do with Starbucks. Now, at the time, Starbucks was growing, but it was at a slower rate. When Howard bought it, there was only about 20 locations, and in just a few years, they went from 20 locations to over 100. And like, that's not all.

Starbucks had a plan to go even bigger. In 1992, Starbucks went public, meaning Howard could now open up Starbucks to investors, which was a genius move because the 90s was when Starbucks went from Q Coffee shop with like a mermaid to a neighborhood staple. By the year 2000, there were over 2,500 locations. Wow, I know. Pretty soon it became a huge corporation

that everyone wanted to be a part of. People bought Starbucks stocks, they bought their coffee, it made it into movies like You Got Mail, You Know Me, Know That. I knew you watched the other day, don't I? And honestly, it was part of the culture now, not just like a coffee shop.

Then in 1994, Starbucks even created a solution for those who wanted the latte, but maybe didn't want to interact with people. So they opened up a drive-through window. So yes, maybe it didn't look exactly like how Howard imagined. But he did succeed in bringing coffee shop culture to the masses. And for the next decade, Howard and Starbucks seemed unstoppable. They were opening an average of two new stores every day until 2007. Wow.

Mm-hmm. But it wasn't necessarily what Howard had in mind for his company. Again, he wanted that cozy little cafe, like the ones in Italy. And Starbucks was becoming the Walmart of coffee shops. Again, he wanted like that cozy little cafe, like the ones in Italy. And Starbucks was becoming the Walmart of coffee shops. The bigger it got, the less charming and cozy it became. And Starbucks had become a replacement for the office. People were coming to Starbucks with their laptops,

not to socialize, but to work, to send emails, to like pretend to type. And yeah, I think that was frustrating to Howard, but he got over it, he cried in his money because Starbucks was a huge hit and thousands of stores continue to open up all across the country. And there you go. That's the story of how one little trip to Milan inspired cultural coffee movement shaped how we enjoy our coffee today. They end. Thank you for listening. Have a good day. Just kidding.

We are now in a new era of coffee where consumers have gotten a little more curious about what exactly is in their coffee. I'm talking about the actual ingredients, right? Isn't it just coffee? Isn't that the ingredient? No. I know. Ah, I mean coffee dairy sugar. Those are the foundations of most coffee drinks. Pretty simple straightforward. What could possibly

be scandalous about that? Have you heard of a little something called recombinant bovine growth hormone? AKA RBGH? I mean, I've seen it, but I was like, no, what the hell's up? Well, I'm gonna tell you, RBGH is a synthetic hormone that was approved by the FDA in 1993. But funny enough, it's actually banned in the European Union and Canada due to potential harm it may, it could have on the body. And then get this. I've, okay, well, I found out that the leading producer of RBGH is Monsanto. And I think that says enough, right?

Now ain't that some shit. So I'm telling you this, because up until like 2008 Starbucks was using milk produced with RBGH. When it was found to probably not cause any harm to humans who ingested it, but it did make cows very sick. Yeah, I mean that didn't stop Starbucks from continuing to use the milk from those sick cows.

They seemed to be aware of the potential issues with RBGH as early as the year 2000. Because they claimed that they were going to go RBGH free within nothing happened for years. And then finally, when they did stop using it in 2008, it was most likely because of the public pressure or maybe they were just trying to distance themselves from the sitcom's controversy. But Starbucks started offering dairy alternatives, you know, to make them happy.

We like soy milk. Remember when like soy milk was huge, it was so big, it was how you can draw everyone's like, fuckin' soy milk. And then also coconut milk. Starbucks said, like, don't worry, I got you. You don't want that sitcom milk, or you could have coconut milk.

Coconut milk just tastes like just real talk. Sorry, said it, but if you like it, that's fine. Get your thing, girl. Or a boy, and you don't have to drink regular cow milk. You got options now. But honestly, like the alternative milks, they really aren't like any better.

Most of them are just sugar water. That's why I like them. When you walk into a Starbucks, you kind of know like you're gonna leave with a lot of sugar, okay? Like a Starbucks, a Venti Mocha, cookie, crumble, Frappuccino, bitch, that name. It has 590 calories in it.

Did you know this? Guess what? Guess what? Because McDonald's, I did some research. McDonald's Big Mac has 563 calories. I know, not that bad. I'll take the Big Mac. Even a Grande iced pumpkin spice latte

is almost 400 calories. What's in it? I'm so gonna know. Now you might be thinking, Bailey, we get it. We're not going to Starbucks for healthy food. And yeah, great. I hope you have a great day. But if we're moving away from the ingredients, Starbucks, they have like many controversies that don't have anything to do

with your actual lattes. It's time to get back into a fall routine. And if you need a partner in meal planning, look, Hello, Fresh is here to help. HelloFresh handles all of the meal planning and shopping to deliver everything you need for a tasty homemade meal. Oh yeah, they do the hard part for you and you still get to take all the credit. You're like, yeah, I made it. I did that from my mind, but really you're like, thanks, Oversh. And with a new season comes new recipes.

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that I'm getting the best produce shipped from the farm directly to my door in just seven days. And like sometimes I would get home from the grocery store and find out that some of the produce I picked just like wasn't fresh, kind of like garbage, like, oops, and then I would end up not using it or just throwing it out.

So for me with HelloFresh, I just, it's like tell me what to eat. Just tell me what to eat and HelloFresh does it for me. And it's the best, because it's really good. If this sounds like something you're like, hey, I should try. Go to hellofresh.com slash 50 dark history and use code 50 dark history for 50% off

plus 15% off the next two months. That's hello fresh dot com slash 50 dark history and use 50 dark history or 50% off plus 15% off the next two months. Hello fresh America's number one meal kit. In 2013 Starbucks was called out by consumers for their use of palm oil and their baked goods. This is bad because harvesting palm oil has led to the destruction of entire rainforests in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. I'm here to tell you that rainforests, yeah, they're actually extremely important. They are often referred to as, quote, the lungs of the planet. Because they release oxygen, so we can survive.

So kind of important. Plus, experts believe that around half of the two countries natural forests have been destroyed and replaced with palm oil plantations. Because of this, it has led to the deaths of over 50,000 orangutans. You know, those orange monkeys? Those forests are their homes.

They were their homes. And because of this palm oil use, orangutans are currently facing extinction. First, the cows and now the orangutans, damn, it's Starbucks with a fuckery do it. And look, to be honest, like Starbucks wasn't the only one that got called out. Companies like our old friend Nestle, Hey Nestle, Calacola, Johnson and Johnson, they all

been called out for their use of palm oil as well. But this episode is about Starbucks, and it took them a long time to stop using palm oil. So they're the ones that we're calling out right now, okay? And then, okay, so palm oil, not great. I want to do a whole episode of Dark History about palm oil. Let me know down below. Thank you. Now, apart from all of that, there's also the cups. Let's talk about the cups. I didn't know cups could cause such a big problem, but they are a problem. In 2008, it was revealed that Starbucks was using a whopping 4 billion cups a year, which means that 1.6 million trees per year

being cut down and destroyed to make these stupid-ass cups. The company was exposed after an investigation revealed that their recyclable cups were actually not recyclable at all on the Starbucks cups. They had like a little recycling symbol on the cup. So you would know you could recycle the cup, right? And you could feel good. A little bit better about the trees.

And I'm going to recycle the cup. But the light detector test determined that was a lie. You actually could not recycle their cups because they were using a chemical on the cup itself. So the coffee could stay hot. And I guess like the chemical can't be removed easily from the cups so it makes it, you can't recycle it, you can't recycle it. To be fair, technically there is one machine that can break down these cups for recycling but it's really expensive and no one doesn't.

So, okay, back in 2008 Starbucks pledged to have a fully recyclable cup by 2015 and promised to sell at least 25% of their drinks in reusable cups. But today Starbucks still hasn't developed a magical cup that can be recycled anywhere. Yeah, it's 2023 bitches, What the fuck happened, Starbucks? And then years later, Starbucks said by the end of 2023, their cops will be recyclable, LOL. Honestly, it doesn't look like that's even happening at all. But like, okay, this one's sat with me because I was like, that's, it's so bizarre.

It's just like, what do we are lie? Right? Starbucks? Now, I have a personal question for you. Are you size clean? Few answered, yes. You and Starbucks might have some beef. Because in 2016, Starbucks was sued by two customers

who claimed that Starbucks were being greedy, bridge trolls, and underfilling their lattes by 25%. These customers said like the company had a systematic conspiracy to underfill its drinks in order to save millions of dollars. The case did eventually get thrown out, but still. You know, we all know what they'd be doing over there, okay? You get a grand day drink, have four sips of it, and you realize, oh yeah, I just spent $7 on a cup of ice.

Yeah. Starbucks has also been sued for using too much ice in their drinks. One lawsuit filed in Chicago claimed that Starbucks instructed baristas to fill drinks with much more ice than liquid. What was the reason? The alleged reason? Money, of course, don't be silly. But if you know Starbucks, you know they're always having some kind of marketing drama. In 2015, America was swept up in a media store after the communities of color experience, racial discrimination, and violence and murder. I mean, let's be honest, they always have, but the media for once was highlighting the social justice movements created in response to the chaos

that was happening. I mean, it wasn't that long ago. You guys remember, great. There's a lot of tension being highlighted in the media and of course, companies, they started doing lots of cringy things to try and seem like they were on the right side of history. And Starbucks was one of those companies.

They decided they came up with a stupid ass idea. Some guys at top were like, hey, or holiday cups always get attention. Why not use those? So they launched a week long campaign called Race Together. Oh yeah, just wait. Starbucks told their employees to write the hashtag

Race Together on People's Cups. And the idea was that this was going to create a safe space to talk about race. So I guess baristas were supposed to be like, I've got a no-phone, extra hot latte for Dan. Dan, listen Dan, can I interest you in a conversation about racial tension while I got you here? The race together campaign got 2.5 billion

social media reactions online in less than like 48 hours and most of it Negative people are just as confused as we are right now the magazine business insider called it Starbucks most embarrassing moment in history That sucks. I mean yeah, that was really stupid whose idea was I don't know my shit I mean, yeah, that was really stupid. Whose idea was that? I don't know, shit. Well, it gets worse. Just a few years after Starbucks tried to get you to talk about race by writing a hashtag on here to go up.

Two black men were arrested for not making a purchase at a Philadelphia Starbucks. They were waiting at the Starbucks because they were supposed to have a business meeting there. And they're like waiting for the guy to come, right? So I guess the Starbucks manager was pissed that the men were waiting and they were like waiting to order until their call aid arrived. The two men were asked to leave, but they refused.

So the manager decided to call the police saying that these men were trespassing. Jesus. Even after their business associate did turn up, the officers still ended up arresting the two men. And these men were never charged with anything because they didn't do anything wrong. But it was like everywhere, it was all over the media, it was all over the news. They grew out rage, like with the fuck. Remember Howard? Howard Schultz?

He issued a public apology saying that he was embarrassed and ashamed. Starbucks released an official statement apologizing to the two men who had been arrested, stating, quote, Starbucks stands firmly against discrimination or racial profiling at home. So a few weeks after the incident, thousands of Starbucks, they had closed their stores to do a racial bias training. And I don't know, apparently according to Starbucks employees,

the training was not very helpful and it was actually quite cringey. Some say, well at least they tried to do something, but I don't know, maybe it wasn't the right move, you guys. And look, I mean, this is all horrible, but let's be real. After a few months, people tend to kind of forget about these things

and the media cycle moves on. And hello, Starbucks is everywhere. I mean, it's delicious, it's convenient, and you know exactly what you're gonna get. And that's something they pride themselves on. Another thing that Starbucks really prides itself on, being fair trade. Today's episode of Dark History is brought to you by way.

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I know I've heard the phrase fair trade, and I know it has to do with being fair and trading, and maybe coffee, but I don't really know what it means literally. So don't worry, looked up for us, okay? Fair trade essentially means that there is some kind of partnership between companies or corporations and international businesses.

An example of something that is supposed to be fair trade is bananas. Do you remember season one, we did an episode on bananas? Bitch, that shit blew my fucking mind. Big companies like Jiquita Banana will partner with a smaller international farm and purchase bananas from them. This is so that Jiquita banana and get those bananas for cheap.

And also so that the people providing the bananas have steady solid work, and that work is supposed to be compensated with a fair price. Essentially, the whole idea behind fair trade is it's supposed to be a win-win for everybody. And it's a great idea, right? Until everyone just fucks it up.

So Starbucks was aiming for this when it came to sourcing their coffee from other countries. And we most of us have been inside a Starbucks. And if you look around, the phrase fair trade is like everywhere. I guess it's supposed to make us feel better about giving money to such a huge corporation. Like when you see it on the cup, you're like,

oh my God. I just want to take this moment to say thank you to my mother and father for having me and God, and I'm such a good person. Do you feel like that? Sometimes I do. I give speeches in the middle of Starbucks, whenever I see something fair trade or I recycle, I give speeches.

I thank you everyone for coming to my ceremony. But unfortunately, Starbucks, they're just um, good liars. Yeah, can I say that? Well, I just did because like they just are fucking liars. There is like let me just tell you before I keep grunting and making noises. So some of Starbucks shady practices came to light when a coffee farmer decided to speak up, oh yeah, on some of the bullshit that was going on. In December of 2006, an 85 year old Ethiopian coffee farmer

named Gamadeh Rob decided to leave his village for the very first time to expose the truth on what was really going on in the fair trade coffee industry. Gamade explained that he'd been working with an international organization called Oxfam to get Starbucks in America to sign a new agreement. And in this agreement, it would essentially say that Ethiopian coffee farmers have the right to ask for more money and more power when it comes to the coffee market, especially you know when it comes to the coffee market, especially when it comes to selling coffee to Starbucks. Here's an example. In America,

certain coffee blends from Ethiopia can go for $26 a pound, but the farmers who harvest and sell those beans, they typically made less than a dollar on pounds of these specialty bougie beans. When it barely covers the cost of farming the beans, there's no profit. What's the fucking point? That's not fair trade. It's awful. So at this point in 2006, Starbucks was worth $6 billion. And if they signed this new agreement, it would give the Ethiopian coffee market 88 million dollars more a year,

which I feel like would be great, right? Okay, and I feel like if you're like in the billions, everything else is just kind of pocket change for them, right? Not a financial advisor, actually. I have no idea how many works, but come on. And plus, like, these are like where they're getting their coffee from, so you think you want to take care of the farmers who are actually getting you the beans

that you're selling Starbucks? If Starbucks depends on Ethiopia to make their signature coffee, why wouldn't you sign this agreement? Isn't that what fair trade is all about Starbucks? Like, twitching like, huh? Well friends, Starbucks refused to sign the agreement. They actually filed a bunch of legal paperwork saying they

didn't agree with Ethiopia's position. I'm like okay but let's be honest it's all about power and profits always right? So eventually like the public found out and they were pissed for years. Starbucks had been marketing itself as a socially responsible coffee company. A place where you can get a Grande, Mocha, Chino, Guilt, Brie. The Ethiopian coffee farmer campaign decided to go brass routes with it. I mean they wanted to bring as much attention to their causes possible. So they worked with the Ethiopian community in the United States, even with students and with Starbucks employees. They ended up getting over 100,000 people involved

and they did not launch a smear campaign against Starbucks or complain to the media. They just had like a simple message. Honor your commitment to coffee farmers. Period. Like, how mature, right? Geez. The story became all about how the fair trade

struggle between coffee farmers and Starbucks was essentially like the story of David versus Goliath. Finally, in June of 2007, after being called out by like everybody, major media outlets for over a year, and a lot of Starbucks gave in to the Ethiopian coffee farmers. And for a while, it was like a huge win for the industry, but then child labor entered the chat.

We can't have anything nice, can we? She's in March of 2020, an investigation by a British documentary program called Channel 4's Dispatches revealed that they had been investigating 12 different coffee farms that supplied beans to Starbucks. On every single one of those farms, they found kids under the age of 13 working alongside the adults.

Children as young as eight years old were filmed working 40 hour weeks under horrible conditions. When these kids, they were working in high temperatures with little snow breaks, not to mention the fact that it's just not safe for kids to be around heavy farming equipment, but what do we know? On top of that, the kids were paid depending on the weight of the beans they picked and a day's worth of beans usually makes them less money than a Starbucks latte. And this was 2020 latte prices. When this news leaked, Starbucks publicly stated that they had a zero tolerance policy for child labor. Like, wow. You know, like they did just all talk. They're so annoying. They were even going to allegedly

launch their own investigation. I fucking roll. And during that original little undercover operation, they came up with a solution. Don't buy coffee from these farms. The Dow teach them, you know? But at the same time, it wasn't necessarily the right move because now those people are not making money and they're not getting paid. It's kind of like a fucking loose loose.

So that investigation also exposed how much money it goes to farmers versus the corporations they sell to. Let's say someone buys a cup of coffee that costs $3.17. The end. After paying for supplies, its employees and tax, Starbucks makes at least $0.32 in profit from that single cup that you can't recycle. But the farmers, they would only be making one cent

for each cup. Those are their beans, Goddammit. And it's not just an international thing. Starbucks has seen thousands of stores stand up for themselves by asking for fair pay and better working conditions. Unionized, baby. This week's episode and a little less headache shipping this holiday season is brought to you

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today and sign up for your free 60 day trial that's shipstation.com code dark history. But it hasn't been easy. I mean, Starbucks has allegedly been cock blocking unions performing Code, dark history, but it hasn't been easy. I mean, Starbucks has allegedly been cock-blocking unions reforming because if they have to pay the workers of better wage, you know, just like with the coffee farmers, that cuts into their profits.

I need another yacht. Workers who support unionizing claim that Starbucks has been punishing them by cutting their hours, like making their schedule unpredictable. So they're just being total like assholes, just a dick move. And I mean Starbucks isn't the only big coffee company out there.

We know this, but between orangutane deaths and child labor scandals, I get why people would want to avoid them. I understand now, I get you, I see you. But other big coffee companies like espresso, they also buy coffee from some of the same farms that Starbucks does and fair is fair. I mean, they should be held accountable too. I mean, damn, is there anywhere safe to get a cup of coffee?

I mean, seriously, like, okay, so after I did a little googling and goddling and research and all that, I found one big coffee company that made it to a couple of like Clean company lists. I had found online Pete's coffee and tea as an Alfred Pits who taught the Starbucks founders the art of roasting Well, it turns out that Pete's was actually acquired by jab holdings, which is a German mega company They own pretty much all things coffee. I mean from stump town to curate was actually acquired by Jab Holdings, which is a German mega company.

They own pretty much all things coffee, I mean, from stump town to curing, to like, crispy cream. I know it's not coffee, but just go with me. They own everything, okay? Listen, I wanted to see how this Jab company compared to Starbucks. And what's the first thing that came up

when I was digging into this company? It's not funny, but it was like shocking. So, to the second I typed into Google, jab holdings, like Nazi came up. And I was like, oh God, the company was started by the Raymond family who donated to Hitler during his reign of terror. Yeah, the Raymond's even used Nazi-sanctioned slave labor, which made them a huge profit during World War Two. And according to David Hundian, a journalist for CNN, Jab quote,

"...it's entire fortune to Nazism." Where do we go from here? Uh-huh. But I decided, you know what, fuck coffee, I'm not drinking it anymore, and you can meet me in the T-Ile, which we should do with our history on the Lipton. Don't even get me started. Nothing's safe. We're all gonna die.

Where am I? Who's the president? I mean, wouldn't it be nice to just have like a better option? A place where you go just get a cup of coffee and everything was normal and fine. And you don't have to worry about anyone being shady and awful. Wouldn't that be cool?

But I guess we're asking which much. You know what, if you have a local coffee shop in your neighborhood that has like real genuine fair trade coffee or just all around good people, drop their name below, tell me where it's at. Just let's give them some love. Thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today. Sorry for ruining Starbucks.

The honestly suck ass, that's just my personal opinion. And I hope they go down in flames. Hey, remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to be curious, because that's how you get the whole story and answers and information. And you deserve that. Don't forget to join me over on my YouTube where you can actually watch these episodes on Thursday

after the podcast airs. While you're there, you could also catch my murder, mystery, and makeup. I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story. Actually, no. I feel like everyone's gonna be throwing their fraps at me. Please don't. Please, sir.

But I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story. So make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can follow along and see what you're saying. Let's read some comments. It's my favorite part. Stars and alignment 9 said, I feel called out when Bailey says, quote, kind of like your dad, just gone. End quote.

Sorry. Sky Dowling, 1894, left a comment on our childhood stories episode from season 2 saying, quote, sorry. Sky Dowling 1894 left a comment on our childhood stories episodes in season two saying, quote, I can't believe she didn't talk about Alison Wonderland. It has such an interesting backstory and I'd love to see a Disney part two. Some other ones with dark histories are Hansel and Reddle, Sleepy Beauty, and Pinocchio. Okay, you guys keep asking about this episode. I see you, I'm hearing you, and I think we should do a part two.

Should we do a part two? I wanna know what's going on with Pinocchio, that was really? Dark History is an audio boom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian High, Dunia McNeely from Three Arts, Kevin Grush, and Met N-Lowe from Maiden Network. A big thank you to our writers, Joie Scavuzzo, Katy Burris, Allison Falobos, and me, Bailey Surion. Production lead, Brian Jaggers. Research provided by Sander Elmore and the Dark History Researcher team.

Special thank you to our expert, Adam Scott Paul, and a special thanks to Ramu Sar. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good rest of your week. You make a choices, and I'll be talking to you later. Goodbye! I'm sorry.