SPILLED COFFEE

California Coffee Shop Owner Fires Her Own Husband Over Racial Slur

Eileen Rinaldi says her husband will have nothing to do with the business whatsoever after the “extremely upsetting” incident last month.

The owner of a San Francisco coffee shop that came under fire last year for its treatment of customers of color has fired her husband after he used a racial slur, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Eileen Rinaldi, owner of Ritual Coffee Roasters, says her husband, John Rinaldi, will have nothing to do with the business whatsoever after the “extremely upsetting” incident last month. Her husband admitted to using the N-word in a spat with a Black man over a parking spot in May, but he said he was just “repeating the derogatory word that was shouted at me.” The firing comes after Rinaldo made drastic changes at the business in response to concerns raised by employees last year about diversity. “Staff have shared with me that they are really happy with the results we have seen from our work, especially over the past year,” Rinaldi was quoted saying.