Community

We Are Committed to Doing Better 

The recent Instagram stories have shone a spotlight on the misogyny and sexism that exists in our industry. We believe the brave women (and men) who shared their stories, and we applaud @ratmagnet for taking a risk and using her platform to bring these encounters and stories to light. The women of Drake’s are furious, and all of us are devastated for those who have had to endure the spectrum of misogyny (ourselves included) – being undervalued, passed over, joked about, harassed, and violently assaulted by others in our beloved industry.

While mentions of Drake’s were few in these stories, we know that harassment has occurred in our own house. We’ve taken corrective measures and terminated offenders, but at times our response was slow, which has contributed to a sense of mistrust. We can only assume that other incidents have gone unreported.  We own this, and we are committed to doing better.

We’ve been fortunate over the last 10+ years to have had many women, LGBTQ and people of color contribute to Drake’s culture and we know that it hasn’t always been a safe or easy space for you. We will be working hard to make sure that we do better starting today.

Sadly, the behavior that’s being called out throughout the industry has been normalized so long that it is now commonplace.  But we are 20 years into the 21st century and we want to normalize calling out this behavior.  It is NOT normal. You do not have to “just deal with it.”  We want more for our team, our guests and ourselves.

To that end, as a company, and as a peer in the industry, we are committing to:

• Prioritize the forming of an Equity and Inclusion committee and working with outside professionals to build the framework that allows us to provide a safe and inclusive culture at all of our locations.
• Not tolerating mistreatment of women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community or men at any of our locations. We will not hire or promote individuals who exhibit this behavior and we will not allow guests to exhibit this behavior on our property.
• Implementing an anonymous reporting hotline where anyone can report incidents without fear of retaliation.
• Responding to every reported incident swiftly and appropriately.
• Adopting the Management Alert Color System (MACS) created by Homeroom in Oakland at our retail locations so that our team members have a concrete action plan to report and combat harassment on the job.
• No longer collaborating with breweries or individuals who have a history of mistreating women or people of color. We will cut ties with individuals and organizations that are not safe for ALL of us and critically evaluate professional partnerships in the future.
• Facilitating round tables to discuss what staff have experienced and what we can do to improve their experiences.  We want to know what they know.  We want to do better.  We want a safe work environment for all employees and guests.