Peet’s Coffee & Tea
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Coffee |
| Founded | 1966 Berkeley, California |
| Founder | Alfred Peet (1920–2007) |
| Headquarters | Emeryville, California |
|
Key people
|
Dave Burwick, CEO |
| Products | Coffee beans, coffee beverages, teas, and food |
| Revenue | $700MM (FY 2015) |
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Number of employees
|
5,000 |
| Parent |
JAB Holding Company (2012–present) |
| Subsidiaries |
Stumptown Coffee Roasters Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea Mighty Leaf Tea |
| Website | peets.com |
Dave Burwick, CEO
Doug Welsh, Roastmaster
Jim Reynolds, Roastmaster Emeritus
Peet's Coffee & Tea is a San Francisco Bay Area based specialty coffee roaster and retailer. Founded in 1966 by Alfred Peet in Berkeley, California, Peet's is known for its early introduction of darker roasted arabica coffee, such as French roast and grades appropriate for espresso drinks, to Bay Area and US coffee retailing, for both freshly roasted beans and in-store brewed coffee.
Alfred Peet grew up in the coffee business while living in the Netherlands as a child. Moving to San Francisco when he was 35, he began roasting coffee in the 1960s. Peet started Peet's Coffee, Tea & Spices as a single store in 1966 in Berkeley, California. Peet's original outlet is still located on the corner of Walnut and Vine (2124 Vine Street) in the Gourmet Ghetto of North Berkeley, close to the University of California. That location now contains a museum, displaying memorabilia and historical coffee equipment.
Peet's predates Starbucks, and served as a model for that enterprise. The three founders of the Seattle-based chain all got to know Peet personally while studying at the University of San Francisco; when they began their store in 1971, they bought their beans directly from Peet's, and continued to do so for the first year of business.
Peet sold his business in 1979 to Sal Bonavita, staying on as a consultant until 1984. In 1984, Jerry Baldwin, one of the founders of Starbucks, along with co-owner Jim Reynolds, the coffee buyer, and a group of investors, bought the four Bay Area Peet's locations from Bonavita. In 1987, Baldwin and Peet's owners sold the Starbucks chain to focus on Peet's, and Howard Schultz, Starbucks' new owner, entered into a four-year non-compete agreement in the Bay Area.
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Wikipedia