Starbucks Corp.’s workers will no longer be asked to write “Race Together” on customers’ coffee cups. The controversial move had been intended to stimulate discussions about racial relations.

But Starbucks is going ahead with the next part of the initiative, which includes employee forums, conversations with police and community leaders and a move to open more Starbucks locations in inner city areas, said CEO Howard Shultz in a letter to employees. “While there has been criticism of the initiative — and I know this hasn’t been easy for any of you — let me assure you that we didn’t expect universal praise.”

Starbucks announced the Race Together initiative March 16 as a way to “stimulate conversation, compassion and action around race in America,” said MSN.com. The move followed racial incidents in which unarmed black men were killed by police in Fergusen, Missouri and New York City.

Over the past 90 days, Starbucks’ top executives have met with about 2,000 workers in St. Louis, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York to talk about racial issues, said MSN.com.

After Starbucks asked employees to write “Race Together” on coffee cups, the move was heavily criticized on and ridiculed on social media. As a result, Corey duBrowa, a communications executive at the company, deleted (and then reinstated) his Twitter account.