Temple Coffee owner steps down after email is sent telling employees to forgo face masks

Temple Coffee Roasters is taking heat after an office manager sent a staff-wide email, which the company later called “inexcusable,” that instructed employees not to wear protective face masks while working during the coronavirus pandemic.

The email, which spread online Wednesday, led to founder Sean Kohmescher relinquishing all decision-making authority in a subsequent email to staff Thursday night, Capital Public Radio reported. Though the initial message telling employees not to wear masks did not come from Kohmescher himself, he took responsibility for it and said he “had it sent out,” according to CapRadio.

Wearing masks while working would violate Temple’s dress code, office manager William Talbot wrote to employees in an email that spread online Wednesday. Employees are allowed to wear protective gloves if they choose, so long as the gloves don’t impede their job functions, the email said.

“At this time, Sacramento and Yolo County have not mandated that masks be worn at this time and Temple does not allow the use of masks in our cafes as it violates the dress code,” the email read. “If this changes at any point, I will send out an update to our current dress code to all team members via email and Deputy [a scheduling software]. In addition, you may choose to wear gloves in the cafes as long as they do not interfere with your job responsibilities.”

On Saturday afternoon, the company posted a second apology on social media addressing the backlash.

“No apology will take back what has been done, and our company knows we need to do more to make things right and to be the company that our team members deserve,” the post said. “We are changing for the better, and we realize there is a long road ahead to regain trust from them.”

The company said that Kohmescher, who was stepping down as CEO, would “no longer have a say in decisions regarding policies, procedures, and company culture.” It also announced that Shannon Loudon, its former director of retail operations, would become chief operating officer.

“While we know this leaves an empty title within our company, this will not leave a gap in leadership,” the release said.

The post had over 6,000 views on Imgur and nearly 400 comments on the r/Sacramento subreddit Friday, two days after it went up. Temple temporarily shut down commenting on its Instagram page after an onslaught of negative comments Wednesday.

The email was misinformed, Temple wrote in a statement posted to social media on Thursday morning. Wearing masks while working during a pandemic does not, in fact, violate company dress code.

The email wasn’t approved by Temple higher-ups, according to the statement. Temple will now be supplying its employees with masks.

“We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the company email that was sent out to team members yesterday. The email included misinformation and miscommunications regarding our current health and safety protocols and policies,” Temple’s statement read. “The email should not have been sent out and was not pre-approved by Temple Operations. It is not a reflection of any of our procedures and policies currently in place. Its contents were inexcusable, and we sincerely apologize.”

“We have and will continue to maintain all health and safety measures to protect our team members and customers. During this time of uncertainty, it’s important now more than ever that we continue to support our team members and our community. Our company supports our team members’ choice to wear face coverings and will be providing face coverings for teams to use while working. We appreciate your support and understanding.”

A Temple Coffee representative wrote that “the appropriate actions are being taken now to ensure that miscommunications and misinformation are not made again,” in an email to The Bee.

Cities such as Los Angeles and New York require people to wear masks in public to curb the coronavirus’ spread, while all shoppers at local grocery chain Nugget Markets must wear them. Sacramento County health officials are advising people to wear masks in public but have not yet formalized that request.

Temple Coffee Roasters has six Sacramento locations, including a month-old shop in East Sacramento, as well as one in Davis. Founded by Kohmescher in 2005, it helped spur the region’s third-wave coffee revolution of the early 2010s alongside others like Old Soul, Insight and Chocolate Fish.

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 11:07 AM.