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3491 19th St
San Francisco, CA 94110
USA

415-967-2622

We grew up drinking milk tea and to this day are still obsessed about it. We started Boba Guys as a way to share the milk tea we remember from our childhood (only this time with fresh ingredients; none of the powdered stuff).

We use only the finest ingredients: Straus Family Creamery organic milk accompanied with homebrewed heirloom organic tea from Five Mountains. Our syrup and almond jelly is homemade and we use Grade A balls. (We just like saying that. )

Boba Guys: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Diversity Equity & Inclusion

 

Last Updated: 01/31/2021

We built this company on values that we aspire to both personally and professionally. As entrepreneurs, we want to solve problems, so we’re working on some of the systemic issues within our company.

At Boba Guys, our mission is to bridge cultures. To us that means East vs West, old and young, boba lovers and absolute newbies. We believe boba is for everyone. Diversity and inclusion needs to be at the forefront of everything we do. We are taking full responsibility for what has happened. Systemic racism has no place in our company.

We are facing a crucial moment in time where swift action and a zero tolerance mentality must be exercised at every level, starting with us: the founders. It’s clear we need to slow down and build a more just, sustainable and equitable company moving forward.

We are taking actionable steps towards supporting and uplifting our BIPOC community as well as creating a safe place for our team to do their best work. For now, we know the transformation starts from within, from us the founders to our leadership team to every team member in every store.

We understand social media posts can be seen as performative, so we’ve created this page as a resource for our team and community that want to know exactly how we’ve been growing as a company. (We’ve also been asked by other businesses in similar situations to share our learnings so our industry and community can grow together.)

Thank you for your interest and encouragement during this transition.

DEI Initiatives:

  1. Hired a DEI consultant to conduct bias training and coaching for our entire team across all locations.

  2. Hiring our first Director of Human Resources (i.e. People Care) to lead the creation and implementation of key people processes and policies. Currently signed a 3rd party HR consultancy (PuzzleHR) to help us full-time during the recruitment process.

  3. Implemented new training procedures and standards from our leadership team to all supervisors to minimize unconcious bias. Some recent trainings: Executive Leadership Bias & Inclusivity Training (July 17th), Manager Bias & Inclusivity Training (July 23rd), and Company-wide Unconscious Bias Training (July 29th, September 8th). Regular bias and inclusivity training scheduled quarterly.

  4. Updated DEI programming to explicitly include a lesson on the history of systemic racism and anti-Blackness in the AAPI community.

  5. Create a safe space for dialogue and new ideas. Holding regular internal Town Halls, in-store discussion groups (and affinity groups), and anonymous feedback loops.

  6. Implemented Harassment Report where our team can report incidents that may ultimately result in an independent third party investigation.

  7. Explore other ways to fight systemic oppression, including using our resources and expertise in small business to help other BIPOC communities as well as financially supporting Black-owned businesses (list of Black-owned restaurants in the Bay Area). To date, we’ve donated $9,000 to BIPOC non-profits and organizations. A list of organizations we’ve supported can be found on our “Boba Guys in the Community” Page.

  8. Conducted company-wide diversity survey to quantify room for improvement (ex: women in leadership, BIPOC in management etc.) Results are for internal use only.

  9. Promoted and assisted with Letters for Black Lives movement. The goal is to have our team and fans share translated content about systemic injustices facing the Black community. Featured guest speaker Brian Yang during Town Hall to talk about helping out with the translations for the Asian community to help reach non-English-speaking audiences.

  10. Created a scholarship program to enhance inclusion efforts. Issued (10) $500 scholarships to Latinx team members. Scaling program to include other underrepresented communities within the company.

  11. Begin incorporating more policies such as basic ASL tutorials in weekly internal communication. Updated Bobaguys.com to be more sight-impaired friendly.

We acknowledge that this is just the start of a process of continuous improvement and growth. We are committed to social change and will keep you updated. As always, we read every DM and email (support@bobaguys.com) and we welcome your thoughts.

Thank you,
Andrew and Bin