Love or hate the coffee, there's something comforting and heartwarming about walking into one of Starbucks' military family stores.
Located near military bases, the 30 current military family stores feature military-inspired decorations, focus on hiring veterans and spouses, highlight their military-affiliated employees through special uniforms, and donate space and other support to local military-affiliated organizations. Here in the Anchorage, Alaska area, for example, the military family store regularly donates coffee and other drinks while playing host to groups like Blue Star Families, In Gear Career and Team Red, White & Blue.
Now, they will be designating 100 more such locations over the next five years, company officials said this week.
The announcement is paired with an increased veteran and spouse hiring commitment from the Seattle, Washington based company. They had previously committed to hiring 10,000 military-affiliated employees before next year. But when they met that goal one year ahead of schedule, they decided to increase it. Now they say they will hire 15,000 more veterans and military spouses by 2025.
Another hiring initiative announced this week is also close to U.S. military hearts. As part of the company's commitment to bring on 10,000 refugees across the global business by 2022, they are partnering with the U.S., veteran owned nonprofit No One Left Behind, which focuses on the resettlement of Iraqi and Afghan U.S. military interpreters.
