Misplaced Pages

Blue Bottle Coffee, Inc.

Blue Bottle's facility in Oakland
Company type	Private
Industry	Coffee industry
Founded	2002; 22 years ago (2002)
Founder	W. James Freeman
Headquarters	Oakland, California, U.S.
Area served	United States
Key people	W. James Freeman, Founder Karl Strovink, CEO
Owner	Nestlé (68%)
Website	bluebottlecoffee.com

Blue Bottle Coffee, Inc., is a coffee roaster and retailer once headquartered in Oakland, California, United States. In 2017, a majority stake in the company was acquired by Nestlé (68%). It is a major player in third wave coffee. The company focuses on single-origin beans.

Locations

Once based in Oakland, California, the company soon expanded to other areas around the country. Blue Bottle first expanded to several cafés in locations around San Francisco, including the Ferry Building and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's rooftop garden. The company operates 99 stores as of June 2021, with locations in California, New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, Seoul, Jeju City, Kyoto, Kobe, Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

History

W. James Freeman founded Blue Bottle Coffee in the early 2000s in Oakland's Temescal District. Freeman borrowed the name from one of Europe's first cafés, The Blue Bottle Coffee House. Initially, he intended to roast coffee in small batches (6 lbs. per roast) to sell within 24 hours of roasting, as a home-delivery service. Blue Bottle soon ceased deliveries and opened as a traditional café.

Blue Bottle opened additional locations in San Francisco and elsewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area and opened its first New York location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2010. The company-owned stores carry off-menu items such as the "Gibraltar", a form of cortado.

• In 2012, Blue Bottle received $20 million in venture capital investment.

• In January 2014, Blue Bottle raised $25.75 million in a new round of funding.
• In 2015, Blue Bottle completed a venture capital round in which it raised $70 million from investors led by Fidelity.

• Since its inception, the company has raised $120 million from investors as of 2017.
• In February 2015, Blue Bottle Coffee opened its first location in Tokyo, Japan, in the Kiyosumi neighborhood.
• In September 2017, Nestle S.A., the world's largest food and drinks company, acquired a majority stake of Blue Bottle. While the deal's financial details were not disclosed, the Financial Times reported "Nestle is understood to be paying up to $500m for the 68 per cent stake in Blue Bottle". Blue Bottle expected to increase sales by 70% in 2017.
• In May 2019, Blue Bottle Coffee opened its first location in Seoul, South Korea.
• In December 2019, Blue Bottle Coffee announce hey would test eliminating disposable cups at some of their shops to increase sustainability efforts, with the goal being zero waste within one year. Nothing has been reported to date about this test and whether it was successful.
• In April 2020, Blue Bottle Coffee opened its first location in Central, Hong Kong. Amid COVID-19, the café opened daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for takeaway only.
• In February 2022, Blue Bottle Coffee opened its first location in mainland China, Yutong Cafe. Yutong Cafe is located at a historic building by Suzhou Creek in downtown Shanghai.
• In August 2024, Blue Bottle Coffee opened a gift-centric store in Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore.

See also

• Counter Culture Coffee
• Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea
• La Colombe Coffee Roasters
• Revelator Coffee
• Stumptown Coffee Roasters
• List of coffeehouse chains
• List of coffee companies

References

1. Baertlein, Lisa (October 30, 2015). "Peet's rides coffee's 'third wave' with stake in Intelligentsia". Reuters. Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
2. Roush, Wade (June 7, 2013). "Coffee Goes from Folger's, to Starbucks, to Tech-Driven 'Third Wave'". Xconomy.
3. ^ Copeland, Michael V. (September 23, 2011). "Blue Bottle: The best coffee you may ever drink". CNN Money. Archived from the original on December 14, 2012.
4. Yim, Hyun-su (July 30, 2021). "Blue Bottle Coffee arrives in Jeju". Retrieved May 17, 2024.
5. "Blue Bottle List of Cafes". Blue Bottle. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
6. Huddleston, Tom Jr. (July 12, 2019). "Blue Bottle Coffee: How a struggling clarinet player used $15,000 in credit card debt to launch a $700 million brand". CNBC. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
7. "Blue Bottle Coffee - Who We Are". Retrieved October 6, 2016.
8. Morabito, Greg (February 23, 2010). "SF's Blue Bottle Coffee Co. Hits The 'Burg This Week". Eater NY. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
9. Tate, Ryan (October 16, 2012). "Blue Bottle Cashes in on Coffee Authenticity". Wired.com.
10. de la Merced, Michael J. "Blue Bottle Raises $25.75 Million, Including From High-Powered Friends". DealBook. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
11. Bradshaw, Tim (June 4, 2015). "Blue Bottle Coffee turns from start-up to upstart with $70m deal". ft.com. Financial Times.
12. Atkins, Ralph; Bradshaw, Tim (September 14, 2017). "Nestlé breaks into US hipster coffee market with Blue Bottle deal". Financial Times. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
13. "Blue Bottle Coffee offers a fresher brew". Japantimes. February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
14. Gretler, Corinne; Giammona, Craig; Zaleski, Olivia (September 14, 2017). "Nestle Buys Majority Stake in U.S. Coffee Roaster Blue Bottle". bloomberg.com. Bloomberg News. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
15. Atkins, Ralph (September 14, 2017). "Nestlé breaks into US hipster coffee market with Blue Bottle deal". Financial Times. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
16. de la Merced, Michael (September 14, 2017). "Nestlé Targets High-End Coffee by Taking Majority Stake in Blue Bottle". New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
17. "Blue Bottle Coffee opens in Korea". Global Coffee Report. April 30, 2019. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
18. Ivanova, Irina (December 13, 2019). "Blue Bottle Coffee to test eliminating disposable cups and packaging". CBS News. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
19. "Blue Bottle Coffee Company". timeout.com. Time Out. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
20. Riri (February 25, 2022). "中国内地首家蓝瓶咖啡开业！但它并不想做个"顶流网红"" [Blue Bottle Coffee opens first cafe in Mainland China!]. FoodTalks (in Chinese). Retrieved February 25, 2022.
21. Yip, Jieying (August 9, 2024). "Popular cafe chain Blue Bottle Coffee to open its first store in Singapore". CNA Lifestyle. Retrieved September 24, 2024.

External links

• Official website

v t e Nestlé
Divisions	Nestlé Purina PetCare Nestlé Waters Nestlé Wyeth Nutrition Divested BlueTriton Brands (Nestlé Waters North America)
Subsidiaries	Nestlé India (62.76%) Nestlé Pakistan Nestlé Canada Nestlé Japan Nestlé Malaysia Nestlé Lanka
Joint ventures	Beverage Partners Worldwide Cereal Partners Worldwide Froneri Nestlé Toll House Café
Other assets	Hsu Fu Chi (60%) L'Oréal (30.3%) Osem (100%) Yinlu Foods (60%) Malher (100%) Lactalis-Nestlé Fresh Products
Brands	Appliances BabyNes Dolce Gusto Nespresso Special.T SICAL Baby nutrition BabyNes Bear Brand Cerelac Gerber Nido Baking Libby's Toll House cookies Bottled water Contrex Acqua Panna Perrier Princes Gate Pure Life S.Pellegrino Vittel Cereals Cheerios Chocapic Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Crisp Corn Flakes Fitness Golden Grahams Golden Nuggets Lion Cereal Lucky Charms Milo Cereal Nesquik (cereal) Trix Shreddies Shredded Wheat Chocolate and desserts Animal Bar Abuelita Aero Aero Biscuits After Eight Allen's Bar One Bertie Beetle Big Turk Blue Riband Black Magic Bono Breakaway Cailler Caramac Carlos V Cheekies Chokito Coffee Crisp Crisp Crunch Drifter Fox's Garoto Goobers Kit Kat Kit Kats in Japan Kohler Life Savers Lion Mackintosh's Toffee Matchmakers Menier Chocolate Milkybar Milo Mirage Munchies Negresco Nestlé Milk Chocolate Passatempo Peppermint Crisp Perugina Polo Quality Street Red Ripperz Rolo Rowntree's Rowntree's Fruit Gums Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles Sin Parar Smarties Svitoch TEX Walnut Whip White Knight Yorkie Zvečevo Coffee and beverages Abuelita Alpine Acticor BabyNes Blue Bottle Coffee Boost Carnation Caro Chameleon Cold-Brew Chuckie Coffee-Mate Dolce Gusto Huesitos Klim La Lechera Menier Milo cocoa Nescafé Nescafé Azera Nescafé Gold Nescau Nesfruta Nespresso Nesquik Nestea Ovaltine Ricoré Seattle's Best Coffee Starbucks Supligen Sweet Leaf Zoégas Dairy products Alpine Bear Brand Carnation Coffee-Mate La Lechera Nesquik Ice cream D'Onofrio Drumstick Eskimo Pie Fab Frosty Paws Häagen-Dazs Hjem-IS Ice Screamers Kit Kat Maxibon Mövenpick Parlour Savory Smarties Prepared and packaged food and snacks Buitoni California Pizza Kitchen DiGiorno Herta Hot Pockets Lean Cuisine Libby's Lean Pockets Maggi Stouffer's Thomy Tombstone Uncle Tobys Winiary Wagner Yinlu Foods Purina PetCare Alpo Bakers Complete Beggin' Strips Beneful Bonio Dog Chow Fancy Feast Felix Friskies Frosty Paws ONE Winalot Uncle Tobys Cheerios PLUS Weeties Former brands and subsidiaries Alcon Alfasigma Arrowhead Butterfinger Baby Ruth Chocolate Surpresa Deer Park Dreyer's Enviga Gale's Galderma Laboratories Cetaphil Epiduo Restylane Hoadley's Ice Mountain Jenny Craig Ozarka Peter's Chocolate Poland Spring Polly Waffle PowerBar Powwow Water Rowntree Mackintosh Violet Crumble Wonder Ball Zephyrhills
People	Günter Blobel Paul Bulcke Peter Brabeck-Letmathe Nobuyuki Idei Henri Nestlé Kaspar Villiger
Related	Nestea European Championship Tour 1977 Nestlé boycott Nestlé Invitational Nestlé Rowntree F.C. Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Nestlé Tower Toll House cookies International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes Nescafé Basement Maggi noodles safety concerns in India Freshly
Related articles	List of Nestlé brands Controversies of Nestlé
Currently manufactured by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods elsewhere. Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. Used only in the Philippines. U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020. Category Commons

• Coffeehouses and cafés in the United States
• Companies based in Oakland, California
• Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Drink companies based in California
• Nestlé brands
• Food and drink companies established in 2002
• American companies established in 2002
• 2002 establishments in California