By now you've seen the headlines. Philz Coffee, the San Francisco-born chain with branding like the queerest coffee shop in town, is pulling Pride flags from its stores. The CEO says it's about creating a "more consistent, inclusive experience." The baristas launched a petition, and the Castro location still has its rainbow flag up as of this writing—I think?—in what feels like a dare.
Customers are pledging boycotts. Fox News is covering it. The whole internet is mad.
I'm a gay person living in San Francisco, so I get it. I understand why a rainbow flag in a shop window matters, especially in a city where that flag was born. I understand the symbolism and the betrayal. But here's the thing: I never liked you anyway Philz.
While everyone is performing their Philz breakup on Reddit, I'm sitting here realizing I never had much of a relationship with the place to begin with. So rather than join the boycott, I'd like to offer something more honest: the reasons I was never a Philz person in the first place.
They don't serve espresso, and they're weirdly proud of it.
At some point in the last decade I graduated from a Venti Mocha Frappuccino to a simple vanilla latte, and I thought that was growth. Apparently not enough growth for Philz, which does not own an espresso machine. Every location operates on pour-over drip coffee exclusively.
So the first time I walked in and asked for a latte, the barista looked at me like I'd ordered a cheeseburger. "Um, sorry, we don't serve that here." Good for you, Philz.
The whole "personalized barista" thing.
Philz's selling point is that each cup is made individually by a "coffee artist" who grinds your beans, asks how much cream and sugar you want, then brews it right in front of you at a dedicated window. They'll even ask you to taste it and adjust. This is, I'm told, an elevated experience. To me it has always felt like a hostage negotiation.
I don't want to have a relationship with my coffee. I want to tap a screen and leave. I also recognize that Philz has an entire ordering system I have never once understood, and every time I try, someone behind me sighs. (My partner tells me you can just order on the app now like a normie. Fine. But the trauma of my in-person encounters remains.)
There isn't even a Philz near me.
I live out in Forest Knolls, and the nearest Philz is... somewhere I'd have to actively commute to. The outrage cycle assumes a level of customer loyalty I could never even develop because Philz never bothered to put a location anywhere near the foggy western half of the city.
Here are the SF proper locations from their site: Berry (Mission Bay), Castro, Chase Center, Civic Center, Embarcadero, Folsom & Beale (SoMa), Front St (FiDi), Noe Valley, Ocean Ave (Ingleside), Potrero, Russian Hill, Second Street (SoMa), plus a coffee truck at 500 Marina Blvd.
So thirteen spots and a truck, and every single one is in the eastern half of the city. Nothing in the Sunset, Richmond, Parkside, or anywhere west of Civic Center. Ocean Ave is technically the closest to me and that's still Ingleside.
So yes: the Pride flag removal is bad. It's cowardly corporate PR dressed up as neutrality. The Castro baristas are right to push back, and the petition signers are right to be angry. But for me, this week's news didn't end a love affair. It confirmed something I've felt for years but never had the occasion to say out loud.
Saul Sugarman is editor-in-chief and owner of The Bold Italic.
The Bold Italic is a not-for-profit media organization, and we publish first-person perspectives about San Francisco and the Bay Area. We operate under a fiscal sponsorship of a 501(c)(3).
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Oh P.S.
I think the Starbs over on 19th and Irving also became rainbow flag cowardly, but at one point in the 2010s they had this lovely tribute up, seemingly forever. I miss it.
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🕑 5:30 PM
📍City View at Metreon
🏠 135 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Sister Roma
Saul Sugarman
