We are Tatte employees who are angered and frustrated by the racial injustices in the United States as a direct result of police brutality and institutionalized racism against the Black community since the inception of this nation. We see the atrocities committed at the hands of the police and we understand that the country we live in today was built on the oppression of Black Americans. We have seen Tatte’s supposed stance on Instagram as a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement but unfortunately, we have yet to see tangible actions made by the corporation. 

During our time at Tatte, we have all learned the story of its founding and internalized the values the company defines itself by. "Our mission," you claim, "is to inspire, care for and touch every person, neighborhood, and city with our experience through our food, our passion, and our culture." We believe that it is impossible to care for our community—within Boston and beyond—without acknowledging the horrors Black Americans have faced within the United States and making a clear commitment to using your privilege and financial resources to support organizations that work for justice. Tatte has looked to the Black community to fill available positions, whether it be in front of house, back of house, or in managerial positions. We believe that this hospitality should be extended outside of just clock-in and clock-out hours, especially when the lives of our Black employees are being threatened. It is Tatte’s duty to protect its Black employees who work every day to uphold Tatte’s Mission Statement.

Similar businesses, such as Blue Bottle, Pret a Manger, Pavement Coffeehouse, etc. have donated and matched their employees’ donations towards BLM funds. In response to this, we are hereby petitioning Tatte to match its employees’ donations dollar for dollar. We have organized a GoFundMe page — linked below — to compile all current donations. The donations will be evenly distributed to the American Civil Liberties Union, BLM of Boston, and the Boston Mutual Aid Fund. Your employees are hungry for change in their communities, and we are asking our employer to support us in this endeavor. 

We also ask you to use this moment of national reckoning as an opportunity for self-reflection. 

To date, Tatte has not hired a single Black person or Person of Color to serve on its executive team. Your HR department consists of one employee. The unfortunate truth is that there is no way for an HR team who doesn't look like the diverse team they are serving to be equipped with the personal experience and understanding necessary to be able to handle the more nuanced and sensitive concerns that employees may have. Time and time again, employees have seen or heard racially charged or insensitive behaviors or statements from those in leadership positions at Tatte, but unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that those comments would be addressed by corporate leadership.  We stand with our Black coworkers who feel abandoned and betrayed by this corporation and ask that you commit to making more tangible changes in staffing decisions to ensure that our concerns are addressed. 

We have watched as Tatte donated food to shelters and hospitals during the COVID-19 Crisis. We have personally thrown out upwards of $300 worth of unsold food every night at closing. We know that this company has the capacity to donate food and has done it before, so we ask that they continue this trend and commit to donating all leftover food and beverages to frontline protestors or to local shelters that are supporting the cause.

Finally, it is to our understanding that Tatte is planning or has planned to aid the Boston Police Department during upcoming protests by providing free drinks. At this point in time, black people have made it extremely clear that the existence of police is a direct threat to their lives. This is, in fact, the entire point of the Black Lives Matter movement. With that being said, it seems impossible for Tatte to supposedly support this movement while simultaneously supporting the police force. This effort at neutrality simply does not help. Those who are neutral in situations of injustice have chosen the side of the oppressor. With that being said, we ask that instead of providing coffee to police officers, you instead extend this offer of goodwill to the people who go out and protest every day for their right to live lives free of brutality from the police. 

To summarize a list of our demands:

• Match all Tatte employee donations to BLM funds (all compiled GoFundMe donations and future donations)
• Commit to diversifying an executive team which currently has ZERO Black members and ZERO Persons of Color
• Donate leftover food and beverages to frontline protestors and BLM-affiliated shelters instead of to the police officers that have proved time and time again that they do not care about black lives, or about the lives of those protesting.                                      GoFundMe Link:https://gf.me/u/x7gkgy