Industry Information | History of Peet's Coffee & Tea

With the characteristics of "freshly roasted, high-quality raw beans, deep roasting and choking fragrance", Alfred Peet has become the godfather of American boutique coffee (the godmother is Erna Knutsen). Before him, no one had extended the concept of "boutique coffee" to the whole country on this scale. Within 10 kilometers of the editor, there are two Peet's in Philadelphia. As a so-called "boutique cafe", this scale is simply appalling.

Where is the great place?

It has been 49 years since the first Peet's in 1966, and now Peet's has 200 stores and 4000 employees. In 2011, Peet's 's market capitalization was $636 million, which is 2.3% of Starbucks's market capitalization over the same period.

If that's all, it shouldn't be enough to explain the greatness of Peet. "it's only 2.3% of Starbucks," but what if I say Starbucks inherits Peet?

When Peet became famous, he didn't forget to receive his apprentice. Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker inherited the deep baking style of Peet, and then the three men founded Starbucks in Seattle and passed on Peet's baking philosophy to this day. Although the success of Starbucks is not due to these three people, and it is doubtful whether Starbucks has inherited the "boutique coffee", as the foundation, Starbucks coffee beans come from the hands of Peet.

Well, we finally got to these two questions.

Is Starbucks a boutique coffee?

Is Peet's a boutique coffee?

The first question is not too much to elaborate on here. Even though Starbucks has recently begun its so-called "success" at the store level, it is still an out-and-out crap in terms of coffee quality. The editor really does not understand why teacher Han Xizong classifies Starbucks as "the second wave of coffee boutique" in "boutique XX". The editor has doubts as to whether Starbucks has inherited the baking essence of Peet, and does not rule out the possibility of walking and running.

The second question is that the editor has no conclusion. The editor has not had a chance to taste Peet's 's coffee since he came to the United States, but I would like to raise a question here: the degree of boutique of Peet's may not be high. The editor has never opened a coffee shop, but there is one truth that everyone knows: quality is inversely proportional to quantity. As a "boutique cafe", Peet's can open more than 200 stores in the United States, can it really guarantee that quality will not be sacrificed? The editor will fill this hole for you in the near future. Please wait and see.

Despite doubts and shortcomings of one kind or another, the contribution made by Peet's and Starbucks to the coffee industry cannot be ignored. Perhaps they can not be said to have done a good job, at least, there is great progress, without them, the next real "boutique" is impossible, where is there a place for us coffee people?

Alfred Peet died of illness in Oregon on August 29th, aged 87

Coffee industry in the United States and Europe was shocked by it.

Alfred Peet is recognized as the forerunner of the "coffee revolution"

Over the past few decades, both Peet's and Starbucks have changed, acquisitions, restructuring, leadership changes and natural death, we can no longer speculate from the current situation of the Coffee Man's story 40 years ago. In the new era of coffee, we are growing, and so are the two of them. Starbucks acquired Clover automatic brewing system, started the construction of Zhenxuan store in China, and opened Seattle Starbucks Zhenxuan roaster ™in the United States. Peet's has made various corporate acquisitions. The recent acquisition of Shudun City boutique cafe, which detonated the coffee circle, is a big step forward. Before that, Peet's also acquired a famous boutique teahouse in the Bay area, Peet'. S boutique may have been moving forward at a slow and firm pace, I can still see the shadow of Alfred Peet in this coffee brand, "boutique, quality, service".

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