One comforting feeling about coffee shops is their relative sameness.
No matter the city, country or even continent there’s likely a young person behind the counter. Travel to one particular Starbucks in Mexico City, though, and that feeling of familiarity will instantly fall away. At this particular location, every single worker – the cashiers, baristas, managers – is 50 and older.
As of 2017, there were more than 8.85 million Mexicans aged 65 or older according to WorldBank data – and this number will steadily rise. (For perspective, it is an increase of more than two million over the past decade.) As Mexico’s ageing population grows, they are finding it difficult to secure jobs, despite the need to still bring in income.
This particular coffee shop hopes to contribute one solution to the employment drought. In 2011, the company partnered with a Mexican government welfare programme, the National Institute for Older Persons, to create the operation.
The aim of the partnership is to not only create opportunities for employment, but also improve seniors’ overall quality of life.
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