Does Howard Schultz know about this?

Corporate America probably hasn’t had a brainstorm like Howard Schultz’s “Race Together” since, well, I’m not sure when. Perhaps Schultz will move on to a book extension along the lines of How To Alienate Customers and Make Yourself a Laughingstock. Or perhaps Schultz will be content to have his Starbucks campaign assume the form of a Harvard Business School case study of some kind. National Review’s Katherine Timpf has developed some of the raw material that might go into a case study.

Camera in hand, Timpf spent all of Friday going to Starbucks locations around New York City, asking baristas and their colleagues about the company’s campaign and about racial issues in general (video below). Now that I think about it, forget the book. This might work better as a Gonzo documentary, if it’s not too late — maybe Howard & Me. This is funny.

Timpf reports: “Open conversations about race can be a good thing, but, as it turns out, a crowded coffee shop with a line forming behind you isn’t exactly the best place to start them.” Does Howard Schultz know about this?

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