Tully's Coffee
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington, United States |
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Number of locations
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17 in western U.S. states; brand licensed to Tully's coffee houses in Japan and South Korea |
| Products | Coffee |
| Revenue | $36 million (2012 est) |
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Number of employees
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480 (2012) |
| Website | tullyscoffeeshops |
Tully's Coffee is a specialty coffee retailer and wholesaler based in Seattle, Washington, United States. Its stores serve specialty coffees, espresso, baked goods, pastries, and coffee-related supplies. It also has overseas licensing agreements in Japan where its brand name is used for Tully's coffee houses in those countries. Tully's Coffee is well known for once following an expansion strategy of opening stores adjacent to those of the considerably larger coffee chain Starbucks, also based in Seattle.
Tully's opened its first store in Kent, Washington in September 1992.
The founder of Tully's Coffee, Tom "Tully" O'Keefe, who retired from the company in 2010, planned to rival the quickly expanding Starbucks coffee. Tully's quickly developed into a strong regional specialty-coffee retailer that was concentrated in Puget Sound, where coffee loyalty is so deep there is one coffee shop for every 4,000 people. In 2006, Tully's made its first net profit. Tully's focus is no longer on competing against Starbucks, but on serving fine hand crafted coffee in its local Seattle area retail coffee shops.
It operates stores in the Greater Puget Sound area of Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Idaho, Arizona, and licenses its brand for use in South Korea and Japan. It had also opened stores in Singapore, Beijing and . Tully's successfully sold its licensed unit to its Japanese licensee, Tully's Coffee Japan, for US$17.9 million in September, 2005.
In August 2007 plans for an IPO were placed on hold with the company, citing a "volatile market." This decision was made right after the company was advised by its bankers to not go forward with the IPO due to a tremendously declining stock market. The company pursued alternative sources of capital and pursued all strategic investment or sale opportunities as a result. Fiscal 2006 losses amounted to $9.7 million.
Tully's subsequently sold its North American wholesale bean distribution business, brand (which it licensed back for $1/year in perpetuity), and roasting operation to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in 2009, earning $40.3 million in the deal, allowing the company to pay off 100% of its debt, including trade debt, make a cash distribution to shareholders, and maintain substantial cash reserves for the expansion of its retail business. Tully's retained all retail rights for North America as well as all wholesale and retail rights for the balance of the world, excluding Japan.
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Wikipedia