Caribou Coffee

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Caribou Coffee

Type of co.	Public (NASDAQ: CBOU)
Founded	1992
Headquarters	, USA Minneapolis, Minnesota
Key people	Michael J. Coles CEO, Chairman, and President
Industry	Restaurants
Revenue	$197.99 million USD (2006)
Net income	US$-4.91 million USD (2006)
Employees	4,000+ employees
Slogan	"Life is short, stay awake for it!"
Website	cariboucoffee.com

Caribou Coffee is the United State’s second-largest specialty coffee retailer. Caribou concentrates on selling gourmet coffees, teas, and bakery goods in over 432 coffeehouses in 17 states.

1 History
2 Products
3 Partnerships
4 External links

[edit] History

In 1990, on a trip to Denali National Park in Alaska, Caribou Coffee was imagined by newlyweds John and Kim Puckett . The couple raised money to start the first Caribou Coffee shop in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, in 1992. Following several years of mixed performance, the Pucketts sold their controlling interest in the company to Atlanta-based Crescent Capital, which has since changed its name to Arcapita.

Since opening, the chain has expanded to 432 locations in 17 states and the District of Columbia[1], making it the second largest operator of non-franchised coffeehouses in the United States, after Starbucks Corporation. This includes sixteen licensed locations in the US and two overseas markets. Caribou maintains its headquarters and coffee roasting facility in the Minneapolis metropolitan area. In 2005, Caribou Coffee's majority stakeholder Arcapita completed an IPO of Caribou. (NASDAQ: CBOU). On September 28, 2005 Caribou Coffee became a publicly traded company. As Arcapita still owns a majority of Caribou stock, it continues to follow Sharia, or Islamic law, in its business dealings. Caribou Coffee also restricts it's business dealings with alcohol, gambling, pornography, and pork products.

The First Islamic Investment Bank of Baharain has a large financial stake in Arcapita, Caribou Coffee's parent corporation, and in 2002 Yusuf al-Qaradawi's involvement^[1] with the bank led to a protest of Caribou Coffee. That same year al-Qaradawi stepped down as chairman of the bank's Sharia board.^[2]

[edit] Products

Caribou serves gourmet coffees, premium loose-leaf teas, blended coffee/espresso drinks, and bakery goods. They also market the Caribou brand with clothing and accessories available at most stores. They also licenses third parties to use the Caribou Coffee brand on food and merchandise.

Caribou serves many specialty espresso drinks such as lattes, cappuccinos, and mochas. They also offer “Coolers” (Blended coffee with flavors such as vanilla, Carmel, chocolate, Mint and Espresso) and several non coffee smoothies (strawberry banana, wild berry, pomegranate mango, and passion fruit green tea). In mid 2006 Caribou started marketing “Bou Gourmet,” which consisted of bakery items including bagels, muffins, scones, cookies and cinnamon rolls along with several sandwich choices. They also have a selection of signature Caribou coffee-based beverages called "Wild Drinks." These including the Caramel Highrise, Turtle Mocha, Mint Condition, and Hot Apple Blast among others.

Caribou has topped 41 other regular and decaffeinated Colombian and Kona coffees in tests performed for the December 2004 edition of Consumer Reports. Inexpensive Eight O’Clock and Dunkin’ Donuts placed second and third respectively, beating brews from Starbucks and Seattle’s Best.

The largest beverage company in the world, Coca-Cola, is said to be soon coming out with a new iced coffee beverage which is made with Caribou Coffee. [2]

[edit] Partnerships

Through its partnership with Rainforest Alliance, Caribou is committed to agriculturally, environmentally, and socially responsible coffee. By the end of 2008, half of all the green coffee Caribou buy will be Rainforest Alliance Certified.

Caribou Coffee is the first coffee company to volunteer itself as a sponsor of the Specialty Coffee Association of America's Producer Support Fund. Caribou donated at the highest level to the fund established by SCAA to assist coffee growers who are association members and farmers who do not have the funds to attend SCAA functions.