HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Seattle's Best Coffee is a brand of wholesale coffee, ground coffee, and
K-cup Keurig is a beverage brewing system for home and commercial use. The machines are manufactured by the American company Keurig Dr Pepper. The main Keurig products are: K-Cup pods, which are single-serve coffee containers; other beverage pods; an ...
coffee that is owned by
Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since ...
. While Seattle's Best Coffee used to have coffeehouses in the United States, they appear to have closed down or have been converted to Starbucks coffeehouses when Starbucks owned this brand. Focus Brands owns the franchising rights for this brand for international markets and military bases. Seattle's Best Coffee is generally less expensive than that of Starbucks, its former parent, and is marketed as more of a
working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...
coffee compared to the upmarket Starbucks.


History

Seattle's Best Coffee began as a combination ice cream and coffee shop called the Wet Whisker in Coupeville on Whidbey Island, northwest of
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, in 1969. Founder Jim Stewart purchased green coffee beans from local roasters to be roasted and sold at the Wet Whisker. By the end of the second summer, the shop had roasted and sold nearly 500 lbs (226 kg) of coffee. By the end of the following year, the Vashon Island Wet Whisker was sold, and Jim Stewart, along with his brother Dave, opened another ice cream and coffee store on Pier 70 on Seattle's Waterfront. The shop was called Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker. In 1982, it began serving espresso based beverages alongside other coffee products. In 1983, the name again changed from Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker to Stewart Brothers Coffee. Shortly after, business began to expand, and new shops opened in
Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has variously been characterized as ...
, and at Seattle's historic
Pike Place Market Pike Place Market is a public market in Seattle, Washington, United States. It opened on August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States. Overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront on Pug ...
a year later. In 1991, the company was renamed "Seattle's Best Coffee" after winning a local competition. Around 1995, the company was purchased by a group of investors who own Torrefazione Italia. They formed a new company made up of both parties called Seattle Coffee Holdings. In 1997, Seattle Coffee Holdings changed its name to Seattle Coffee Company. In 1998,
AFC Enterprises Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., also known as Popeyes and formerly named Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits, is an American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants that was formed in 1972 ...
purchased Seattle Coffee Holdings and began franchising the Seattle's Best Coffee brand. During AFC Enterprises' ownership, Seattle Coffee Company's
Vashon Island Vashon is a census-designated place (CDP) in King County, Washington, United States. It covers an island alternately called Vashon Island or Vashon–Maury Island, the largest island in Puget Sound south of Admiralty Inlet. The population was 10, ...
roasterie was upgraded and the company's organic coffee line was established. AFC Enterprises sold SBC to Starbucks in July 2003, retaining franchise rights in eleven countries,
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
and U.S. military bases. Starbucks closed the Vashon Island facility on October 23, 2003, and moved production to their Kent, Washington, roasterie. The historic Vashon Island roasterie building, Jim Stewart's original 1952 roaster, and roastmaster Peter Larsen, while no longer affiliated with SBC or Starbucks, continue operations as "The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie". On October 18, 2022, Starbucks sold Seattle's Best Coffee to Nestlé.


Distribution partners

The
Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...
bookstore chain signed a contract with Seattle's Best Coffee in 2004 to convert Borders' in-store cafes to Seattle's Best cafes. By 2006, approximately two-thirds of Borders' domestic superstores had completed the Seattle's Best conversion. Seattle's Best parent company
Starbucks Corporation Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 cou ...
has contracted with Borders' competitor Barnes & Noble to sell its products in Barnes & Noble's Cafes. (Borders has since completely shut down due to bankruptcy.) Starbucks also owns and operates locations within
Chapters Chapter or Chapters may refer to: Books * Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document * Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10 * Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...
and Indigo Books and Music bookstores in Canada. Seattle's Best Coffee Cafes are found in larger
JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...
department stores when the company signed a contract in the late 1990s to have in-store cafés in department stores. Seattle's Best Coffee Cafes and Kiosks can also be found on all 21 ships in the fleet of the cruise line
Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International (RCI), also formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line brand founded in 1968 in Norway and organised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Flo ...
under the name "Latte-Tudes" or "Cafe Promenade". The presence of the Seattle's Best outlets on Royal Caribbean is also tied in with all other free-of-charge coffee items on the ship also being exclusively supplied by SBC. The Oasis class ships also have Starbucks outlet with the regular land price list, SBC is for-free (included in cruise cost) On February 16, 2010, Burger King announced that they would add Seattle's Best Coffee to their menu in over 7,000 restaurants. On May 12, 2010, Starbucks announced a rebranding of Seattle's Best Coffee, with a new logo and plans to expand Seattle's Best Coffee distribution from 3,000 locations to 30,000 by the end of the 2010 fiscal year. The rebranding of the Seattle's Best Coffee logo from the detailed, vintage logo to the clinical, generic design for the new mass market was met with much criticism, with the new logo being likened to a label for eye-drops, a blood-bank sign and a gas station logo. On February 8, 2011,
Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along w ...
and Seattle's Best entered into an agreement to offer Seattle's Best Coffee onboard all domestic, international, and
Delta Connection Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to ope ...
flights beginning March 1, 2011. Since February 2015; however, Delta adjusted its coffee offerings in favor of Seattle's Best's then-parent company Starbucks on all flights. The Swedish fast food chain Max Hamburgers ended its partnership with Seattle's Best Coffee and discontinued serving their coffee on November 13th, 2019.


See also

*
List of coffeehouse chains This list of notable coffeehouse chains catalogues the spread and markets share of coffeehouses world-wide. This list excludes the many companies which operate coffeeshops within retail establishments, notably bookstores and department stores, o ...


References


External links

* {{Coffee in Seattle 1968 establishments in Washington (state) 1998 mergers and acquisitions 2003 mergers and acquisitions 2022 mergers and acquisitions Coffeehouses and cafés in the United States Coffee brands Coffee in Seattle Companies based in Seattle Food and drink companies based in Seattle Food and drink companies established in 1968 Nestlé brands Retail companies established in 1968 Starbucks