Peet's Coffee facts for kids
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Coffee shop |
| Founded | 1966 Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Founder | Alfred Peet (1920–2007) |
| Headquarters | Emeryville, California, U.S. |
|
Number of locations
|
200 (2021) |
|
Key people
|
|
| Products | Coffee beans, coffee beverages, teas, and food |
| Revenue | $983 million (FY 2019) |
|
Number of employees
|
5,000 |
| Parent | JDE Peet's (JAB Holding Company) (2012–present) |
| Subsidiaries | Stumptown Coffee Roasters Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea Mighty Leaf Tea |
Peet's Coffee is a well-known coffee company that started in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's famous for roasting its own coffee beans. The company was founded in 1966 by a man named Alfred Peet in Berkeley, California.
Alfred Peet was one of the first to bring darker roasted Arabica coffee to the United States. This included popular blends like French roast. Peet's sells freshly roasted coffee beans, brewed coffee, and even bottled cold brew drinks. In 2007, Peet's opened a special roasting facility that was the first of its kind in the U.S. to earn a "LEED Gold Certified" award for being environmentally friendly. You can find Peet's coffee in over 14,000 grocery stores across the United States. By 2021, the company had 200 stores in the U.S.
Contents
The Story of Peet's Coffee
Alfred Peet grew up in the Netherlands. His father owned a business that bought and ground coffee beans. Alfred learned a lot about coffee from his dad. In 1938, when he was 18, he moved to London and worked for a coffee and tea company called Twinings. He also spent time in New Zealand and Indonesia before moving to San Francisco in 1955. There, he worked for a company that imported coffee and tea.
In 1966, Alfred Peet opened his very first store called "Peet's Coffee, Tea & Spices" in Berkeley, California. It was near the University of California, Berkeley. At first, the store only sold coffee beans, not cups of coffee. Alfred roasted his coffee beans by hand in small amounts. His company grew to four locations and became known as "Peet's Coffee and Tea." Alfred wanted to bring better coffee to America and became known as "the godfather of gourmet coffee in the U.S." His first store in Berkeley is still open today!
Alfred sold his business in 1979, but he kept working with the company as a coffee buyer until 1983. In 1984, Jerry Baldwin, one of the people who started Starbucks, bought Peet's four stores. Later, in 1987, Jerry Baldwin and his partners sold Starbucks to focus only on Peet's.
In 2001, Peet's Coffee and Tea Company became a public company. This means its shares could be bought and sold on the stock market. The company raised $26.4 million.
Peet's opened a new coffee roasting plant in Alameda in 2007. This new place replaced their old operations. It was special because it was the first coffee roasting plant in the U.S. to be certified as "LEED Gold." This means it was built and operates in a very environmentally friendly way.
In 2012, a German investment group called Joh. A Benckiser bought Peet's for $977.6 million. This was one of the biggest deals for a company started in Berkeley at that time. JAB Holding also owns parts of other companies like Reckitt Benckiser and Coty.
Peet's continued to grow by buying other companies. In 2014, they bought Mighty Leaf Tea, a special tea brand. In 2015, Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea also became part of Peet's.
In 2016, Peet's announced they would build a second large roasting plant in Suffolk, Virginia. This new facility cost $58 million and was planned to open in 2018. At that time, the Alameda roaster was making about 1 million pounds of coffee every week!
Peet's opened its first store in Shanghai, China, in October 2017. By 2019, Peet's earned $983 million in revenue.
In May 2020, JDE Peet's, which owns Peet's Coffee, became a public company on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. They raised $2.5 billion, which was a huge amount, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
Where You Can Find Peet's
By 2018, Peet's had over 200 stores in 11 states across the U.S. These states include California, Washington DC, Virginia, Tennessee, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland. They also expanded internationally by opening a store in Shanghai, China.
You can also find Peet's coffee in many grocery stores, universities, and other places across the United States. For example, by 2016, Peet's coffee was sold in 14,000 grocery stores. They also had many coffee shops in cities like Chicago, Boston, and the Washington D.C. area.
Partnerships
Peet's has coffee shops in many transportation hubs, like airports.
They also have partnerships with many universities. In 2003, the first full Peet's coffee shop on a university campus opened at Stanford University. Peet's coffee is also served in all dining areas at Stanford. In 2005, UC Berkeley opened its own Peet's store on campus. Other universities like UW–Madison, Villanova University, and UC San Diego also opened Peet's coffee shops.
In 2016, Peet's donated $250,000 to the University of California, Davis, to start a "Coffee Center." This center is a research hub dedicated to studying coffee in many different ways. UC Davis is the first university in the world to have such a strong academic focus on coffee after it's harvested. Peet's also signed an agreement with UC Berkeley in 2017 to help fund student programs, including travel grants, scholarships, and paid internships.
Peet's Products
In September 2015, Peet's started offering all-day breakfast options on their menu. This change began in the Chicago area and was planned for all locations eventually.
Peet's also introduced a line of bottled cold brew coffee. They started making the blend in 2014 and first offered it in their coffee shops in 2015. In July 2016, they released bottled cold brew coffee to 400 locations in the San Francisco area, including their own stores and grocery stores. At first, Peet's cold brew came in three flavors: Baridi Black, Coffee au Lait, and Dark Chocolate. In May 2017, they added an Almond Milk option.
In December 2016, Peet's added a "Slow Bar" to one of its newest D.C. coffee shops. This bar offered special brewing methods like French press, pour-over, and siphon.
Peet's Influence
When the three people who started Starbucks were thinking about their company, they reached out to Alfred Peet. He became like a "father mentor" to them. He even let them copy the design of his store and shared his coffee suppliers.
Peet's has many loyal fans, sometimes called "Peetniks." This name combines "Peet's" with "beatniks," which was a group of young people in the 1950s.
Peet's was one of the first coffee companies to offer high-quality coffee beans and brewed coffee. They roasted their beans longer, which created a darker, richer taste with less of the sourness that was common in coffees in the U.S. at the time. Peet's is often seen as one of the founding businesses in the world of gourmet coffee.
Two British men who worked at Peet's in the early 1990s later started their own successful coffee company in the United Kingdom called Union Coffee Roasters.
Images for kids
-
In Spanish: Peet's Coffee para niños
See also
- List of coffeehouse chains
