The coffee world was set abuzz last week when Peet’s Coffee & Tea, a Berkeley, Calif. based coffee roaster, announced it was buying Stumptown Coffee Roasters, a specialty coffee company based in Portland, Oregon.
Peet’s will acquire complete ownership of Stumptown from its current shareholders, in-cluding TSG Consumer Partners LLC, a private equity firm with investments in the branded consumer sector.
Details of the transaction were not disclosed by either company, though both busi-nesses issued statements reassuring customers that there would be few changes in ei-ther brand. Peet’s and Stumptown are to remain wholly independent companies.
“Stumptown, one of the leading players in the fast growing ready-to-drink cold brew cof-fee business, will continue to operate independently while having full access to Peet’s resources and scale,” Peet’s said in an Oct. 6 release on their website. “Peet’s will con-tinue to pursue its own growth strategy, operating “as is” across its retail cafes, whole-sale and grocery channels.”
Stumptown reiterated this statement.
“Stumptown will keep pushing towards the same goals we’ve always had – sourcing and roasting fresh coffee of the highest quality and taking care of each other and our customers. We’ve got something special going on here, and we don’t intend to change that,” the company said in a blog post on their website.
Stumptown’s post also cited newfound opportunities to expand – both in terms of sourc-ing relationships with coffee producers and product availability in stores and cafes – with Peet’s support.
The University’s contract with Stumptown will not change as a result of the acquisition.
“The acquisition of Stumptown to the Peet’s coffee brand is not affecting our contract at all; in fact, we are thrilled for the partnership as both companies are going to learn from each other,” said Paige Phillips, Manager for Diversions Cafe and the Cellar.
Phillips said that representatives at Stumptown contacted the University shortly after the announcement was released.
“They want to let us know that Stumptown cares about us, our campus and the relation-ships they have created with us. The goal is to evolve and get better,” Phillips said. “Getting the support of Peet’s will only enable their practices to get stronger.”