Caribou Coffee

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Caribou Coffee
Type Public (NASDAQ: CBOU)
Founded 1992
Headquarters Minneapolis, Minnesota
Key people Rosalyn T. Mallet, CEO
Industry Restaurants
Retail Coffee and Tea
Retail Beverages
Revenue ▲ $236.22 million USD (2006) [1]
Net income ▼ $9.05 million USD (2006) [2]
Employees 6,000+ employees.[3]
Website cariboucoffee.com

Caribou Coffee is a specialty coffee retailer, the second largest in the U.S.[4] Caribou sells gourmet coffees, teas, and bakery goods in over 464 coffeehouses in 18 states.

Contents

[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 in 1998 for $120 million to Atlanta-based Crescent Capital, which has since changed its name to Arcapita. The company continues to hold a majority of the common stock of Caribou.[5]

Since opening, the chain has expanded to 464 locations in 18 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 24 licensed locations in the U.S. 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.

The First Islamic Investment Bank of Bahrain has a large financial stake in Arcapita, Caribou Coffee's majority shareholder, and in 2002 Yusuf al-Qaradawi's involvement[6] 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.[7]

[edit] Products

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A Cup of Caribou Coffee
A Cup of Caribou Coffee

Caribou serves gourmet coffees, premium loose-leaf teas, blended coffee/espresso drinks, and bakery goods. It also markets the Caribou brand with clothing and accessories available at most stores and 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. It also offers dark and white hot chocolate. Caribou's signature cold drinks are called "Coolers" (blended coffee with flavors such as coffee, vanilla, caramel, chocolate, espresso, and toffee). The lighter version of these "Coolers" are called Northern Lite Coolers (customers can choose from caramel, chocolate, coffee, espresso and vanilla).

They also offer several non-coffee smoothies (açaí, strawberry-banana, wild berry, pom-a-mango and passion fruit green tea). Another popular non-coffee drink that Caribou Coffee serves is the Snowdrift, which comes in mint and cookies & cream flavors.

In mid 2005, Caribou started marketing “Bou Gourmet,” which consisted of bakery items including bagels, muffins, scones, cookies, and cinnamon roll popovers along with several sandwich and salad choices in select locations. It also offers a selection of signature Caribou coffee-based beverages called "Wild Drinks". These are a fancier version of the flavored latte, with whipped cream and toppings that vary according to the type of drink. Varieties of Wild Drinks include the Caramel High Rise, Turtle Mocha, Mint Condition, Hot Apple Blast, Campfire Mocha, and Lite White Berry.

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.

[edit] Partnerships

Caribou recently chose to develop a partnership with the Rainforest Alliance in order to promote agriculturally, environmentally, and socially responsible coffee. By the end of 2008, half of all the green coffee Caribou buys will be Rainforest Alliance Certified. The move has received mixed reviews: Rainforest Alliance certification, dubbed "Fairtrade lite" by various observers and news sources, is questioned in the industry[8] and was described in January 2005 by Oxford University professor Alex Nicholls as "an easy option for companies looking for a “flash in the pan at a cheap price”.[9]

Caribou Coffee is also 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.

[edit] See also

[edit] Competitors

[edit] References

  1. ^ Company Information
  2. ^ Company Information
  3. ^ Company Information
  4. ^ www.cariboucoffee.com
  5. ^ Caribou Coffee Ownership
  6. ^ Annual Report 2000
  7. ^ Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi: Theologian of Terror - Affiliations, Anti-Defamation League, August 1, 2005
  8. ^ Manchester Evening News (2007). McDonald's brew a forest-friendly coffee. URL accessed on January 20, 2007.
  9. ^ Ethical Corporation (January 2005). Bean Wars. URL accessed on September 3, 2006.

[edit] External links