| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants Retail coffee and tea |
| Founded | Los Angeles, California (1963) |
| Founder(s) | Herbert B. Hyman[1] |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Key people |
Sunny Sassoon, Chairman |
| Products | Whole bean coffee Boxed tea Made-to-order beverages Baked goods Merchandise |
| Revenue | $130.1 million USD (2007) |
| Parent | International Coffee & Tea, LLC |
| Website | coffeebean.com |
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (sometimes shortened to simply "The Coffee Bean" or "Coffee Bean") is a Los Angeles, California-based coffee chain, owned and operated by International Coffee & Tea, LLC. The first outlet opened in September 1963. The chain has over 750 locations in 22 countries.[2] Within the United States, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has locations in San Francisco, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Texas, Alabama, Miami, Detroit, and New York City. The majority of locations are in Southern California, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura. Many locations outside of California are franchises, such as Hawaii. Singapore entrepreneurs Sunny and Victor Sassoon have opened locations throughout Southeast Asia.
Free Wi-Fi access is offered at most locations. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is an international chain with locations in Australia, Brunei, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, South Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Cambodia and Vietnam.[3]
Several Southern California Ralphs supermarkets have full-service The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf kiosks in their stores.
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The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was founded by Mona and Herbert Hyman in September 1963.[4] They opened the first store in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood. This original location still exists and operates today. The firm is affectionately known as The Bean among long-time customers that include many Hollywood celebrities, and was touted as a success model for the coffee and tea business in its early days.
Singapore entrepreneurs Sunny and Victor Sassoon and their long time friend and business associate, Severin Wunderman purchased the company and took it global in 1998. In 1996, the Sassoons bought the franchise rights for Asia and in two years, opened 29 outlets in Singapore and Malaysia - almost as many as the Hymans had opened in the US up until then. Two years later, they bought the entire Los Angeles-based firm. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has grown into one of the largest privately-owned, family-run coffee and tea companies in the world. Along the way, The Bean, as it is affectionately known, has become the model for a successful coffee and tea company.
Since 1963, they have continued to search the Earth for the finest and rarest loose-leaf teas and premium coffees. Today they offer over 22 varieties of coffee and 20 kinds of tea. Over the years, they have worked hard to build relationships with individual farms and estates so that they can be assured of the best coffee and tea harvests available. Their coffee is roasted fresh daily in small batches in a manual European roast style, then packed using state-of-the-art equipment for shipment in their own roasting facility and delivered fresh daily to their stores.
All of the products at The Coffee Bean are certified as kosher. At least one location meets the higher standard of cholov yisroel in their dairy products. Coffee Bean has fared well in its entry into the Israeli coffee chain market. This may be attributed to its kosher food selection. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's beverages are also halal.[5]
In 2008, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf launched its "Support from Home" campaign, an event that has continued into 2011. Consumers were invited to purchase a bag of coffee, a tin of tea and/or retail merchandise to donate to U.S. troops overseas. During the campaign, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf also offered a "Support from Home" limited edition blend of coffee. The packaged coffee was designed with a special back label created to allow consumers to write a personalized message to soldiers. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf worked in conjunction with an organization called Soldiers' Angels to provide the product donations. They also donated a portion of the proceeds from the "Support from Home" blend to the Fisher House, an organization that acts as a "home away from home" for families of military personnel and veterans receiving medical care at major medical facilities. In total, Coffee Bean customers donated more than 18,000 pounds of coffee to military personnel.
In 2008, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf held a holiday open house at all company-owned locations in California and Arizona. Customers were treated to 12 oz holiday beverages. The event was three hours long, during which time 35,000 drinks were given away.
The event also helped to raise $30,000 for The Help Group, a Los Angeles-based charity serving special needs youth, through Coffee Bean's "Deck The Walls" campaign. This campaign provided consumers with the opportunity to select and sign holiday-themed cards in exchange for a $1 donation to The Help Group.
In 1989, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf launched their The Original Ice Blended drink. Worldwide, over 20,000 Ice Blended drinks are served daily and over 7 million annually.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has several holiday drinks:
They also offer a limited edition Holiday Blend coffee and Winter Dream tea.
Mayfield v. International Coffee & Tea, LLC is a pending class action settlement for owed wages and/or other compensations for missed meal periods, plus related penalties for any non-exempt hourly store-based employees in the state of California between August 28, 2004, and April 22, 2010. A hearing was to be held on September 21, 2010, to determine whether the settlement should be granted final approval.