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Dutch Bros. Coffee

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Dutch Bros. Coffee
Company typePrivately held
IndustryDrive-thru restaurants
Restaurants
Retail coffee
Retail beverages
FoundedGrants Pass, Oregon (February 12, 1992 (1992-02-12))
FounderDane Boersma
Travis Boersma
Headquarters
Grants Pass, Oregon
,
U.S.
Number of locations
172
Area served
Western United States
ProductsWhole bean coffee
Made-to-order beverages
Bottled beverages
Merchandise
Smoothies
ServicesCoffee
RevenueIncrease US$ 78 million (FY 2010)
Websitewww.dutchbros.com

Dutch Bros. Coffee is a privately-held drive-through coffee chain headquartered in Grants Pass, Oregon, United States, with company-owned and franchise locations throughout the western United States. Dutch Bros. is the country’s largest privately held, drive-through coffee chain, with 172 stores in 7 western U.S. states.

Dutch Bros. sells espresso-based drinks (hot or cold), smoothies, energy drinks, coffee beans, pastries, snacks, and items such as mugs, tumblers, and t-shirts. Many of the company's products are only offered seasonally and correspond to said season.

History

Founding

Company stand in Hillsboro, Oregon

Dutch Bros. was founded on February 12, 1992 by thirty-eight-year-old Dane Boersma and his twenty-one-year-old brother Travis Boersma, third-generation dairy farmers in Grants Pass. They decided to buy a double-head espresso machine and experiment with a hundred pounds of coffee in their empty milk house in Grants Pass. After a month of handing out free samples of flavored coffee to friends and family, the duo began serving up mochas and lattes with the one double head espresso machine, a stereo blasting music, and a pushcart set up every morning under a 10-by-10 foot tent in downtown Grants Pass, Oregon. They named their company Dutch Brother’s Coffee Company, or Dutch Bros. Over the next few years, permanent kiosks opened in other parts of the city, including a coffeehouse a few blocks from the original stand.

Expansion and Growth

As a flavored-coffee craze swept through Grants Pass and the surrounding areas, the Boersma brothers' little company began to grow. They worked with local suppliers to ensure quality and commitment to their products and to the “Dutch Creed” (the Optimist’s Creed) that they built their business on: to be positive and love life to the fullest, "to think only the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best." Dutch Bros. roasts all of its own coffee, and the company’s focus is on drive-through coffee shops. The drive-thru and walk up structures are approximately 400 square feet (37 m2) on a half acre site. Some can also be found in shopping center parking lots. They currently offer franchising opportunities to existing franchises and current employees only and the company is the country’s largest privately held, drive-through coffee chain. As of January 2012, there are 172 locations in seven states: Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona and Colorado.

Charitable Causes

In October 2009, co-founder Dane Boersma died of Lou Gehrig’s disease. In his honor, all locations annually donate one designated day's proceeds to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In 2010, over $110,000 was donated to MDA for research and family services funding. The company also participates annually in a "Buck for Kids Day," when part of the proceeds benefits regional nonprofit organizations. In 2011, over $93,000 was raised for this cause to further the Dutch Bros. mantra, "make a difference, one cup at a time." In addition to specific causes, over $1,000,000 annually (1% of gross sales) is reinvested into the community by each retail location.

References

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