Biggby Coffee facts for kids
Biggby Coffee, East Lansing, Michigan
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurants, franchising |
| Founded | March 1995, East Lansing, Michigan, U.S. |
| Headquarters | East Lansing, Michigan, U.S. |
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Number of locations
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395+ (December 2023) |
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Key people
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Robert Fish, Co-CEO, Michael McFall, Co-CEO |
| Products |
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Biggby Coffee (say "big B") is a popular American coffeehouse chain. It started in 1995 in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. The company was founded by Bob Fish and Mary Roszel. It was first called Beaner's Coffee. By the end of the 1990s, the company had three stores. It began to grow a lot in the 2000s by letting people open their own Biggby stores (this is called franchising).
Between 2007 and 2008, the company changed its name to Biggby Coffee. This happened because the original name had a word that could be offensive to some people. The new name, Biggby, came from the big "B" in the company's logo. As of late 2023, Biggby Coffee had more than 390 locations across the United States.
Contents
How Biggby Coffee Started
The First Stores
The founders, Bob Fish and Mary Roszel, met while studying about restaurants at Michigan State University. They first worked together managing a restaurant chain called Flap Jack.
The very first Biggby Coffee store opened in April 1995. It was on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing, Michigan. This building used to be an Arby's restaurant. The first store was very successful. Because of this, Fish and Roszel opened a second store in downtown Lansing, Michigan, in 1997. One year later, they also opened a main office in Lansing. This office helped them sell coffee in bulk and prepare coffee.
Growing Through Franchising
Bob Fish, Mary Roszel, and Michael McFall decided to let other people open Biggby Coffee stores. Michael McFall had first worked as a barista (someone who makes coffee) in the very first store. In June 1998, they created a company called Global Orange Development, LLC. This company helped with the franchising process.
A third Biggby Coffee store opened in August 1999. It was also on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing. This store was about 2 kilometers east of the first one. Over the next four years, nine more stores opened. These new stores were located across Michigan and Ohio.
The Name Change
In late 2007, Bob Fish announced a big change. The company would officially be renamed Biggby Coffee by January 2008. This decision was made because the word "beaner" in the original name could be seen as a disrespectful slang term for Mexican people. Before making this change, company representatives spent a year researching new names. They chose Biggby Coffee because of the "big B" in the company's logo.
Recent Growth and Changes
In July 2011, Biggby Coffee introduced a "new store footprint." This plan made it about 40 percent cheaper to open a new franchise location. This helped the company grow even faster. In September 2011, the news channel CNBC named Biggby Coffee the fastest-growing coffee chain in America. They looked at how much the company had grown from the year before.
In August 2012, Mary Roszel retired from the company. She had been with Biggby Coffee for 17 years. Her university, Michigan State University, honored her for her success. She was added to the School of Hospitality Business Hall of Fame.
