Stumptown Coffee Roasters

Stumptown Coffee Roasters
Private
Industry Coffee
Founded 1999
Founder Duane Sorenson
Headquarters Portland, Oregon
Products Coffee
Website www.stumptowncoffee.com
The original Stumptown Coffee Roasters, located at 47th and Division in Portland, Oregon (February 2008).

Stumptown Coffee Roasters is a coffee roaster and retailer based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The chain's flagship cafe and roastery on SE 45th and Division opened in 1999. Three other cafes, a roastery and a tasting annex have since opened in Portland as well as two locations in Seattle, two in New York and one in Los Angeles. In August 2012, the company moved its headquarters to a building in Portland's Central Eastside Industrial District.[1]

Business model

The business practices and quality standards of Stumptown Coffee Roasters have led to them being recognized as having "revolutionized the coffee business" and helped "refine coffee drinkers' palates" in Portland.[2] Founder Duane Sorenson and Stumptown Coffee Roasters have been credited[3] as being part of the third wave of coffee movement.[4]

Sorenson, and his employees, in pursuit of the best quality coffee spends considerable time visiting farms in person and is willing to pay high prices for coffee he deems worthy—occasionally three or four times the fair trade price.[5] He once set the record for highest price ever paid for coffee beans.[6][7] Sorenson is known for forming lasting relationships with coffee producers.[8]

Stumptown Coffee Roasters on SW Stark Street.

The owner has offered atypical perks to his employees such as paying for a compilation album to be produced of their various bands,[9] and hiring a full-time on-staff massage therapist.[10] They have received numerous awards, including Roaster of the Year 2006.[10]

In 2011 Stumptown took on a large investment from private equity fund TSG Consumer Partners in New York,[11] including re-registering the business under TSG in the state of Oregon.[12] Due to tax reasons Stumptown is now fiscally based in Delaware.[12] This led many to declare that Stumptown had sold out, despite confirmation that Sorenson was technically still running the company.[13][14] As of February 2013, Joth Ricci of Jones Soda Co. is now the acting president.[15]

Locations

Stumptown operates four cafes in Portland. Stumptown has cafes on SE 45th & Division St., SE 34th & Belmont, downtown at SW 3rd & Ash St., and inside the Ace Hotel at 1022 SW Stark St. There is a roasting facility and a retail annex inside their headquarters at 100 SE Salmon St. The original location on SE Division was previously a hair salon called "The Hair Bender," whose name Stumptown adopted for one of their signature espresso blends.[16] The annex used the Clover 1s brewing machine to brew its coffee, but discontinued its use when the Coffee Equipment Company, the owner of the Clover 1s, was acquired by Starbucks.

In November 2007, Stumptown opened two cafes in Seattle.[17] They are located at 12th Avenue East & East Spring and East Pine & Belmont.

In September 2009, Stumptown opened a cafe in New York's Ace Hotel.[18] A temporary "pop-up" location appeared in Amsterdam's De Pijp neighborhood in May 2010. Opened by Sorenson, he claimed it was never intended to be permanent and closed its doors that same year.[19]

In May 2013, Stumptown opened its second café in New York City at 30 West 8th Street.[20]

In September 2013, Stumptown opened a cafe/roaster in Los Angeles, California at 806 S Santa Fe.

"Bikes to Rwanda" Project

In 2006 after a business trip to Rwanda to visit coffee growers' cooperatives, Sorenson founded a non-profit organization whose mission was to provide cargo bicycles for the cooperative coffee growers. In addition, bike shops for the maintenance and repair of the bikes were to be established in Rwanda. To date, five are in operation. Bikes to Rwanda is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and has acquired numerous partner organizations.[21]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Jackson, Reed (August 29, 2012). "Stumptown Coffee Opens New Headquarters". DJC Oregon. Retrieved 2012-08-30.
  2. ↑ Saelens, E. (July 4, 2003). "Stumptown presses on with attitude". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  3. ↑ Dundas, Zach (October 11, 2006). "Bean Town". Willamette Week. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  4. ↑ Skeie, Trish R. (April–May 2006). "Third Wave". Barista Magazine. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  5. ↑ DiStafano, Anne Marie (June 30, 2006). "Stumptown’s blend". The Portland Tribune. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  6. ↑ Clarke, Kelly (December 8, 2004). "Unwrapped". Willamette Week. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  7. ↑ "Worth Its Weight". Roast Magazine. September–October 2004. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  8. ↑ Ozersky, Josh (March 9, 2010). "Is Stumptown the New Starbucks...or Better?". Time Magazine.
  9. ↑ "CD Review: Worker's Comp: Stumptown Sessions Vol. 1". The Portland Mercury. March 14, 2002. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "2006 Roaster of the Year". Roast Magazine. October–November 2005. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  11. ↑ Strand, Oliver (June 2, 2011). "Stumptown Expands With the Help of a Powerful Investor". Diner's Journal (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "State Documents Show Shift Atop Stumptown Coffee". Willamette Week. May 31, 2011.
  13. ↑ "The End of Stumptown, America's Hippest Coffee Brand". Esquire. May 31, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Has Stumptown Coffee been sold?". Willamette Week.
  15. ↑ "Longtime soda and beverage executive Joth Ricci has taken over as president of Stumptown Coffee Roasters.". Roast Magazine. February 2013.
  16. ↑ http://cuppin.wordpress.com/2006/06/17/who-died-and-made-you-coffee-expert-anyway/
  17. ↑ Dizon, Kristin (November 15, 2007). "Get perking: Portland's highly-regarded Stumptown Coffee comes to Capitol Hill". Seattle Post Intelligencer. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
  18. ↑ Strand, Oliver (September 16, 2009). "A Seductive Cup". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  19. ↑ Hartley, Brandon. "Stumptown Goes Abroad". AWB. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
  20. ↑ "Stumptown Coffee Roasters Website - New York Cafés". Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  21. ↑ http://www.bikestorwanda.org/

References

External links

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