KindAwareness3073 t1_j0wmsqm wrote on December 19, 2022 at 11:32 PM

Long before Starbucks there was a chain of coffee shop/lunch places called "Chock Full o' Nuts". To allay white racist anxieties because they had black employees, their motto was "Where human hands never touch the food you eat".

Edit: spelling

WilcoHistBuff t1_j0x1g4l wrote on December 20, 2022 at 1:23 AM

It should be pointed out that Chock Full o’ Nuts not only was dedicated to equal opportunity employment, it also hired Jackie Robinson as a VP of HR, had no problem with him being a civil rights activists while in their employ, and donated funds to the NAACP. You can call William Black’s efforts bubbling, but for the time the company’s hiring practices were ahead of the curve.

Also not sure that the main driver on the food never touched by human hand was a race issue. They used tongs to cook and assemble meals and advertised that fact.

KindAwareness3073 t1_j0x7nhy wrote on December 20, 2022 at 2:09 AM

Not the avowed meaning, but it was pretty clear to patrons at the time. But certainly true they were "ahead of the curve". In the era few blacks were "front of the house" in any restaurants.