Starbucks

public company

Starbucks

Industry Food

A public coffee chain selling drinks and food at global scale, with extensive labor-dispute evidence and no structural worker control. Starbucks remains weak because of documented human harm, toxic or materially harmful products, and ecological harm, even where the product or service has practical value.

Why this matters: A service brand built on worker labor is structurally weak when workers lack binding power.

Letter grade D Extractive High confidence (AI) Rubric gcd-rubric-v1

Final Score 12* D - Extractive
DEXTRACTIVE12 tentative score pts

* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.

Base Material21
Bonus+0
Cap35Ownership <= 2 and Governance <= 2
After Cap21
Penalties-9
!Not Verified
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Evaluation Overview

D - Extractive

The score turns mainly on Product Integrity, with the largest penalty coming from Human Harm.

Strengths

  • Product Integrity4/5
  • Extraction3/10
  • Market Conduct3/5

Penalties

  • Human Harm-5
  • Toxic Products-2
  • Ecological Harm-1
  • Ideological Disavowal-1

Evidence state

  • ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)
  • ThoroughnessPartial (AI)
  • Linked claims13
  • Direct axis claims13
  • Coverage13/13

Scoring Axes
Axis Score Why this score
Ownership
?
Control rights: shareholder-dominated at 0, worker cooperative control at 10.
1 / 10

Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 12 scored entries below, 65 tied, 149 above on Ownership.

Linked evidence
  • Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company. [1]
Governance
?
Binding decision authority: centralized control at 0, democratic stakeholder control at 10.
1 / 10

Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 2 scored entries below, 68 tied, 156 above on Governance.

Linked evidence
  • context Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company. [1]
  • context NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations. [2]
  • Starbucks investor materials show shareholder governance, while union and labor disputes are handled through management, litigation, and NLRB processes rather than worker control. [3]
Extraction
?
Surplus allocation, wage share, CEO pay ratio, margins, and structured extraction judgment.
3 / 10

Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 39 scored entries below, 22 tied, 165 above on Extraction.

Linked evidence
  • context Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company. [1]
  • context NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations. [2]
  • Starbucks extracts value from global coffee retail, brand identity, and store labor while labor charges and commodity supply-chain impacts remain material. [4]
Labor Sovereignty
?
Worker power: coercive conditions at 0, co-determination or ownership at 7. Employee dissatisfaction matters only when source-backed evidence shows concrete limits on worker agency, such as coercive scheduling, retaliation, wage theft, harassment, unsafe conditions, suppression of worker voice, or extreme turnover.
2 / 7

Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 8 scored entries below, 36 tied, 182 above on Labor Sovereignty.

Linked evidence
  • context Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company. [1]
  • context NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations. [2]
  • NLRB Starbucks case records refusal-to-bargain allegations, showing workers have had to rely on labor-law enforcement rather than internal sovereignty over workplace conditions. [5]
Solidarity with the Unemployed
?
Treatment of exits and nonworkers, including severance, redeployment, and non-competes.
2 / 7

Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 31 scored entries below, 49 tied, 146 above on Solidarity with the Unemployed.

Linked evidence
  • context Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company. [1]
  • context NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations. [2]
  • Starbucks provides jobs and public seating in some contexts, but the coffeehouse model does not structurally protect people outside employment or purchasing power. [6]
Loss-Bearing Fidelity
?
Willingness to absorb costs to preserve values, workers, users, and public obligations.
2 / 7

Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 33 scored entries below, 14 tied, 179 above on Loss-Bearing Fidelity.

Linked evidence
  • context Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company. [1]
  • context NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations. [2]
  • Starbucks labor disputes and global retail model show costs and conflict pushed onto baristas and supply chains rather than consistently absorbed as obligations. [7]
Market Conduct
?
Pricing fairness, switching costs, lock-in, and rent extraction.
3 / 5

Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 54 scored entries below, 51 tied, 121 above on Market Conduct.

Linked evidence
  • context Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company. [1]
  • context NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations. [2]
  • Starbucks sells ordinary coffee and food but also monetizes brand identity, rewards, store ubiquity, and premium pricing in ways that weaken market-conduct credit. [8]
Product Integrity
?
Preservation of quality rather than degradation for monetization.
4 / 5

Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 61 scored entries below, 72 tied, 93 above on Product Integrity.

Linked evidence
  • context Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company. [1]
  • context NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations. [2]
  • Starbucks beverages and food provide ordinary use value, but sugar-heavy drinks, dairy exposure, and brand/identity consumption reduce product-integrity credit. [9]
Scale Integrity
?
Whether growth improves or degrades fairness and accountability.
3 / 5

Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 50 scored entries below, 58 tied, 118 above on Scale Integrity.

Linked evidence
  • context Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company. [1]
  • context NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations. [2]
  • Starbucks’s global store scale magnifies labor, sourcing, nutrition, waste, and neighborhood-market effects. [10]

Penalties
Penalty Applied Why this penalty
Human Harm
?
Severity, scale, culpability, vulnerable targets, willful reoffense, reputation laundering, pattern escalation, and time decay. Range: -20 to 0.
-5

NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 41 scored entries below, 6 tied, 179 above on Human Harm.

Linked evidence
  • NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations. [2]
Ecological Harm
?
Footprint, trajectory, irreversibility, culpability, and scale, including whether ecological harm is central to the model and continued after credible notice. Range: -30 to 0.
-1

Starbucks publishes environmental and social impact reporting for a global coffee and retail footprint.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 57 scored entries below, 7 tied, 162 above on Ecological Harm.

Linked evidence
  • Starbucks publishes environmental and social impact reporting for a global coffee and retail footprint. [11]
Toxic Products
?
Current sale of products whose ordinary use, exposure, ingredients, residues, packaging, or formulation creates toxic, addictive, or consumer-safety risk. Food products receive at least light scrutiny for artificial colors, artificial flavors, petro-derived additives, pesticide residues, contaminants, endocrine-disrupting packaging, and ultra-processed formulation. Ordinary adult nightlife or alcohol service is not penalized by itself without evidence of predatory marketing, youth targeting, addiction-extractive design, or unusual product-safety misconduct. Range: -5 to 0.
-2

Starbucks currently sells sugar-sweetened beverages and dairy-based food-service products at global scale; the product category creates ordinary toxic, addictive, or consumer-safety exposure under the directory's toxic-products screen.

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 14 scored entries below, 9 tied, 203 above on Toxic Products.

Linked evidence
  • Starbucks currently sells sugar-sweetened beverages and dairy-based food-service products at global scale; the product category creates ordinary toxic, addictive, or consumer-safety exposure under the directory's toxic-products screen. [12]
Ideological Disavowal
?
Concealed ideology presented as neutrality, expertise, professional necessity, public-service administration, market inevitability, or non-ideological common sense while exercising power. Range: -3 to 0.
-1

Starbucks's public framing is assessed as ideological-disavowal evidence because Starbucks shows bounded neutrality theater: some contested choices are softened through expertise,…

Calibration notes

Comparative anchor: Ideological Disavowal 0 to -3 recalibration: 0 for explicit standpoint or no penalty-level neutrality theater; -1 for bounded softening of contested choices; -2 for strong neutrality theater by a powerful institution; -3 for major gatekeeping or coercive power presented as neutral, necessary, objective, or non-ideological.

Uncertainty
  • This recalibration uses public self-presentation and profile evidence; later review should add direct language-analysis evidence for high-impact institutions.
Linked evidence
  • Starbucks's public framing is assessed as ideological-disavowal evidence because Starbucks shows bounded neutrality theater: some contested choices are softened through expertise, public-interest, professional, market, safety, or institutional language, but the record does not show dominant concealment of standpoint. [13]

Bonus Credits

No bonus credits applied in this version.

Confidence Basis

Confidence Basis

Confidence is computed from the evidence trail and review state, not typed into the profile by hand.

High 83/100

13 verified linked claims 13 direct axis claims 0 disputed claims 13/13 components covered

This confidence label measures the source-backed evidence trail. AI-scaffolded scores remain tentative until human review.

Claim confidence 13/20

13 verified linked claims

Source quality 17/18

Best source per verified claim, weighted by institutional reliability

Direct axis-specific claims 14/18

13 direct claims across 13 active components

Dispute load 12/12

0 disputed claims on this entity

Recency 10/10

Newest accepted timestamp: May 13, 2026

Reviewer status 7/12

Human-reviewed components score higher than AI scaffolding

Component coverage 10/10

13/13 evidence-bearing components have direct support

Evidence State

Evidence State

Profile stateAI draft / human-pending
VerificationUnverified
ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)
ThoroughnessPartial (AI)
Correction routeUse “Challenge this rating” for factual errors, missing counterevidence, source problems, or calculation mistakes.
Company responseCompany representatives can submit source-backed corrections; payment never changes scores or reviewer authority.

Claims and Sources

Claims are the evidence record. Each claim needs a source link, axis category, status, confidence level, and timestamp before it can support a score.

* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.
1Starbucks publishes investor-relations materials for a shareholder-governed public company.

Ownership Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

2NLRB case materials record Starbucks labor charges and complaint activity including refusal-to-bargain allegations.

Human Harm Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

3Starbucks investor materials show shareholder governance, while union and labor disputes are handled through management, litigation, and NLRB processes rather than worker control.

Governance Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed

4Starbucks extracts value from global coffee retail, brand identity, and store labor while labor charges and commodity supply-chain impacts remain material.

Extraction Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed

5NLRB Starbucks case records refusal-to-bargain allegations, showing workers have had to rely on labor-law enforcement rather than internal sovereignty over workplace conditions.

Labor Sovereignty Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed

6Starbucks provides jobs and public seating in some contexts, but the coffeehouse model does not structurally protect people outside employment or purchasing power.

Solidarity Unemployed Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed

7Starbucks labor disputes and global retail model show costs and conflict pushed onto baristas and supply chains rather than consistently absorbed as obligations.

Loss Bearing Fidelity Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed

8Starbucks sells ordinary coffee and food but also monetizes brand identity, rewards, store ubiquity, and premium pricing in ways that weaken market-conduct credit.

Market Conduct Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed

9Starbucks beverages and food provide ordinary use value, but sugar-heavy drinks, dairy exposure, and brand/identity consumption reduce product-integrity credit.

Product Integrity Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed

10Starbucks’s global store scale magnifies labor, sourcing, nutrition, waste, and neighborhood-market effects.

Scale Integrity Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed

11Starbucks publishes environmental and social impact reporting for a global coffee and retail footprint.

Ecological Harm Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

12Starbucks currently sells sugar-sweetened beverages and dairy-based food-service products at global scale; the product category creates ordinary toxic, addictive, or consumer-safety exposure under the directory's toxic-products screen.

Toxic Products Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

13Starbucks's public framing is assessed as ideological-disavowal evidence because Starbucks shows bounded neutrality theater: some contested choices are softened through expertise, public-interest, professional, market, safety, or institutional language, but the record does not show dominant concealment of standpoint.

Ideological Disavowal Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

Alternatives

AGOOD61 tentative score Three Stone Hearth worker-owned community-supported kitchen · same market AGOOD60 tentative score Cheese Board Collective worker cooperative · same market AGOOD60 tentative score ChiFresh Kitchen worker-owned prepared-meal cooperative · same market AGOOD59 tentative score Alvarado Street Bakery worker-owned bakery · same market AGOOD59 tentative score Arizmendi Bakery worker cooperative bakery · same market

Competitors

AGOOD61 tentative score Three Stone Hearth worker-owned community-supported kitchen · same market AGOOD60 tentative score Cheese Board Collective worker cooperative · same market AGOOD60 tentative score ChiFresh Kitchen worker-owned prepared-meal cooperative · same market AGOOD59 tentative score Alvarado Street Bakery worker-owned bakery · same market AGOOD59 tentative score Arizmendi Bakery worker cooperative bakery · same market AGOOD59 tentative score Rainbow Grocery Cooperative worker cooperative grocer · same market AGOOD58 tentative score Equal Exchange worker cooperative · same market AGOOD58 tentative score Niles Pie Company worker-owned pie shop and bakery · same market

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How This Page Is Maintained

Evidence comes in through contributors, is checked by verifiers, and is synthesized by reviewers. Founder authority remains narrow and visible; scores recalculate when verified claims or the rubric change.

Civic Note

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Audit Log

Recent public changes for this company or group. The full audit log is part of the Transparency record.

ai-scaffolding toxic-products-assessment

Added tentative AI-generated Toxic Products penalty -2 and directory value for current toxic, addictive, pesticide, livestock, chemical, or consumer-safety product exposure.

ai-scaffolding confidence-calibration

Rechecked evidence coverage and source quality during the evaluation-quality pass; confidence now reflects direct source coverage, complexity, and remaining uncertainty rather than score direction.

ai_scaffolding score

Published tentative AI-generated scaffolding score 15 for initial human review under gcd-rubric-v1.

View Full Audit Log