Diedrich Coffee Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Diedrich Coffee, Inc

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Restaurants
Founded	In 1972; 53 years ago (1972) in Irvine, California
Headquarters	Irvine, California
Key people	J. Russell Philips, President and CEO Sean McCarthy, Chief Financial Officer
Products	Whole Bean Coffee Food Beverages Merchandise
Revenue	$52.5 mill. (FY2004 net) ($14.6 mill)
Number of employees	815 as of February 25, 2005
Parent	Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
Subsidiaries	Diedrich Coffee, Inc Coffee People

Diedrich Coffee was a company that sold coffee. It was based in Irvine, California. The very first Diedrich Coffee shop opened in Orange County, California, in 1972.

The Story of Diedrich Coffee

The Diedrich family's coffee journey began a long time ago.

In 1916, Charlotte Diedrich received a coffee farm in Costa Rica.
Her son, Carl Diedrich, joined the family business in 1946.
Carl bought another coffee farm in Antigua, Guatemala, in 1966.
The first Diedrich coffee shop opened in Newport Beach in 1972. This shop also roasted its own coffee beans.

Martin Diedrich, a member of the family, started Diedrich Coffee in 1983.
He took over the family's coffee business. This included selling coffee, roasting it, and bringing it in from other countries.
In September 1996, Diedrich Coffee became a public company. This meant people could buy shares of the company.

In July 1999, Diedrich Coffee bought another coffee chain called Coffee People.
Coffee People also had the rights to operate Gloria Jean's Coffees shops in the United States.
Martin Diedrich left his job at Diedrich Coffee in June 2004.

In September 2006, Diedrich Coffee decided to close its own coffee shops. These were the shops under the Diedrich and Coffee People names.
About 40 of these shops were sold to a big rival company, Starbucks. Starbucks then reopened them under its own name.
Diedrich Coffee continued to roast and sell coffee beans to other businesses.
They also continued to manage the franchises for Coffee People and Gloria Jean's brands.
The company kept ownership of the Coffee People shops located inside the Portland International Airport.

In 2009, Diedrich Coffee sold its Gloria Jean's franchises in the U.S. to an Australian company.
However, Diedrich Coffee kept the right to use the Gloria Jean's name in North America. They used it for selling coffee beans to stores and for Keurig coffee pods.

On November 3, 2009, a company called Peet's Coffee announced it would buy Diedrich Coffee. Peet's Coffee is based in California.
But on December 8, 2009, another company made a better offer. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. from Vermont offered $290 million to buy Diedrich Coffee.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. bought Diedrich Coffee.