Coffee Shop Chain That Originated in San Francisco Defends Plan to Remove 'Pride' Flags from Stores' Decor
The Godfather might have put it best: “It’s nothing personal. It’s strictly business.”
That was the message a coffee shop chain born in San Francisco is putting out about its decision to remove “pride” flags from its stores’ decor — a decision that sparked outrage among the kind of gay activists who start online petitions to try to bully private companies into doing their whim.
And Philz Coffee isn’t backing down.
Philz Coffee, a San Francisco-born coffee chain, will remove Pride flags from all of its locations, the company said Wednesday, confirming the policy after an online petition criticizing the move spread rapidly on social media.
On Sunday, a group calling itself Philz Coffee… pic.twitter.com/Ob9w3Gx2QC
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) April 9, 2026
The company made headlines last week after a Change.org petition went live, signed “Philz Coffee Baristas,” claiming that the decision to remove the flags “has left many team members and customers feeling confounded and unsupported.” They would feel less confounded and more supported, apparently, if Philz kept the flags as a sign that it would “reaffirm its commitment to diversity and inclusion, aligning its values with the community it serves.”
As the attention grew, an April 8 report in the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Philz Coffee CEO Mahesh Sadarangani saying in a statement that Philz “was working toward creating a more consistent, inclusive experience across all our stores, including removing a variety of flags and other decor.”
On Wednesday, the newspaper published a follow-up report noting that the decision would stand. The report was headlined: “Confidential Philz Coffee memo: Despite backlash, Pride flags are still coming down.”
The article detailed a company memo to employees — marked “confidential” — that explained its rationale for removing the flags.
“Over the last year, we have been working on custom Philz artwork to set the expectations for a safe and inclusive space for all, including our LGBTQIA+ community,” the memo stated. “We want one piece of artwork that unifies all of Philz, that openly showcases our commitment to honoring the uniqueness and diversity of each person who enters our place.”
The memo, written by Sadarangani, also said that the company is not “mov(ing) away from supporting the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Putting those two statements together, it appears that Philz doesn’t want to alienate its supporters in San Francisco’s gay population, but it also doesn’t want to alienate future customers who might not share the Castro District’s … how to put it … “libertine” philosophy on when it comes to gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transexuals, pansexuals, parasexuals, gammasexuals, tetrasexuals, throuples, furries or any other demographic base that might turn out under a “pride” flag in any given June.
After all, the very large part of America that doesn’t approve of mocking nuns or parodying the Crucifixion (like, 99 percent of it) buys coffee, too.
According to an online profile published in 2014, Philz was founded by the eponymous Phil Jaber, a Palestinian immigrant. The first store opened in San Francisco’s Mission District in 2002, but the franchise has now expanded far beyond the City by the Bay, with locations throughout California as well as in Chicago.
In 2025, it was purchased by Freeman Spogli, a private equity firm based in Los Angeles.
During the years in between, it saw occasional controversy — what with the George Floyd madness and the cop-loathing that inspired among libs — but it appears the company leadership is more interested in the bottom line than virtue signaling.
A business with national aspirations can’t foreclose on future customers with decor explicitly designed to cater to one demographic group — to the exclusion of all others. Philz apparently wants a “safe and inclusive space for all.”
Maybe the quivering souls behind the Change.org petition — Philz barristas, allegedly — might feel a little less confounded and a little more supported if they understood exactly how it is a private company keeps the lights on, the doors open and the paychecks clearing — by appealing to as many wallets and pocketbooks as possible, not a niche that needs to be coddled and comforted.
It’s nothing personal at all. Really. It’s just business.
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