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A big list of famous coffee chains and their short histories.
Costa Coffee traces its history back to London in 1971.
Sergio Costa immigrated to London to start a wholesale coffee roastery.
It has grown to be the world’s second-largest coffeehouse chain.
They most famously insured their chief coffee taster’s tongue for £10 million with Lloyd’s of London.
Dunkin’ Donuts was launched way back in the wholesome decade of 1950.
Bill Rosenberg founded the company in Quincy, Massachusetts.
It started as a single shop called “Open Kettle.”
It’s now a coffee and donut empire with over 12,900 locations.
Dunkin’ once produced a donut specifically designed for dunking with a handle.
They have faced a lawsuit for allegedly forcing franchisees to sell at a loss, even for minor infractions.
They also sparked controversy by featuring a woman in blackface in Thailand to promote chocolate chip donuts.
Canadian hockey player Tim Horton founded Tim Hortons in 1964.
Tim Hortons started as a single donut shop.
It would become Canada’s largest fast-food chain.
It surpassed McDonald’s in Canada by 2005.
Tim Hortons is growing fast in markets like Mexico.
Caribou Coffee was created in 1992.
The creator got the idea from a trip to Alaska.
It started from a single suburban Minnesota shop.
The company was once majority-owned by an Islamic bank.
Protests have occurred over the controversial chairman’s involvement.
The chairman eventually took it private with a $340 million deal by a German equity company.
Caribou later merged with Panera Bread and Einstein Bros. Bagels.
The company is now known as Panera Brands.
Alfred Peet was a Dutch immigrant who trained with Twinings in London.
He made American coffee culture by founding Peet’s Coffee in Berkeley, California, in 1966.
Coffee in America was horrendous before him.
Peet introduced a darker roasted Arabica coffee and became known as “the grandfather of specialty coffee.”
Peet mentored and inspired the founders of Starbucks.
He even allowed them to copy his store layout and share his supplier.
Gloria Jean’s Coffees was founded in a small town near Chicago in 1979.
It grew from a single coffee shop to a global franchise.
The Australian arm of the company acquired the global rights to the brand in 2004.
It took control of its American parent.
The chain later became controversial for donating $30,000 to the Australian Christian Lobby.
It led to a national boycott.
Starbucks began as a single coffee shop in Seattle in 1971.
It grew into the world’s largest coffeehouse chain.
You can find Starbucks on every street corner at this point.
Starbucks briefly operated inside China’s Forbidden City from 2000-2007.
It was then forced to close amid controversy that an American chain was “trampling on Chinese culture.”
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was founded in 1963 by Herbert Hyman.
The chain started a single coffee service.
They invented their signature ice-blended drinks in 1987.
It predated Starbucks’ Frappuccino but also helped boost Coffee Bean’s business when Starbucks expanded into LA.
Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. was founded in 1895 in Turin, Italy.
It began as a tiny grocery store and grew to become Italy’s favorite coffee brand.
Since then, 16 20 million coffee-purchasing families in Italy have chosen Lavazza.
Since 1991, Lavazza has produced an exclusive, not-for-sale calendar featuring conceptual fashion photography by world-renowned photographers.
Tully’s Coffee was founded in 1992 as a potential rival to Starbucks.
It has had a wild ride that included actor Patrick Dempsey briefly buying the company at a bankruptcy auction for $9.15 million in 2013.
He later would back out and sue his former partner.
Tully’s brand lives on through its Japanese franchise, which has flourished to over 760 stores as of 2022.
Philz Coffee was founded in 2003 by Palestinian-born Phil Jaber and his son Jacob.
The chain started in a single-corner grocery store in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Phil pioneered the flavored pour-over coffee.
It’s faced backlash for firing employees for supporting George Floyd and Palestine.
Blue Bottle Coffee was founded in 2002 by W. James Freeman.
It was founded as a home-delivery service roasting small batches of coffee.
Nestlé acquired a majority stake (68%) in the hipster coffee brand in 2017 for a reported $500 million.
It has had a wild ride from a small coffee shop to a major player in the third-wave coffee movement.
Chobani would eventually acquire it for $900 million in 2023.
The company’s innovative Draft Latte cans were designed by CEO Todd Carmichael himself.
They use a valve mechanism at the base to inject nitrous oxide (basically a party in the can).
Intelligentsia Coffee began in 1995 in Chicago.
It expanded to multiple locations across the US over the years.
Intelligentsia was caught up in controversy in 2008 when it eliminated 20-ounce drinks from its menu.
They’ve argued the 20-ounce “masks and adulterates” the pure flavors.
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