Seattle's Best Coffee, a subsidiary of Starbucks, is a specialty coffee retailer and wholesaler based in Seattle, Washington.
Seattle's Best Coffee has retail stores and grocery sub-stores in 20 states and provinces and the District of Columbia. Sub-stores can also be found within many other businesses and college campuses, including J.C. Penney Department Stores and over 400 locations in Borders Bookstores and Subway Restaurant .
Seattle's Best Coffee is generally cheaper than that of its parent, and is marketed as more of a working class coffee compared to the more yuppie-centric Starbucks.
Seattle's Best Coffee began as a combination ice cream and coffee shop called the Wet Whisker on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, Washington. Founder Jim Stewart purchased his first 12-pound coffee roaster from a peanut vendor on the beach in Southern California. Stewart purchased green coffee beans from local roasters to be roasted and sold at the Wet Whisker. By the end of the second summer, the shop had roasted and sold nearly 500 pounds (226 kg) of coffee.
By the end of 1970, the Whidbey Island Wet Whisker was sold to a local family, and Jim Stewart, along with his brother Dave, opened another ice cream and coffee store on Pier 70 on Seattle's Waterfront. The shop was called Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker. In 1982, Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker installed their first espresso machine and began serving espresso based beverages alongside fresh roasted coffee.
In 1983, the name again changed from Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker to Stewart Brothers Coffee. Shortly after, business began to expand, and new shops opened in Bellevue, Washington, and in Seattle's historic Pike Place Market a year later. In 1991, the company was renamed "Seattle's Best Coffee" after winning a local competition. In the same year, Seattle's Best Coffee was purchased by a group of investors who own Torrefazione Italia. They formed a new company made up of both parties called Seattle Coffee Holdings. In 1997, Seattle Coffee Holdings changed its name to Seattle Coffee Company.
In 1998, AFC Enterprises purchased Seattle Coffee Holdings and began franchising the Seattle's Best Coffee brand. During AFC Enterprise's ownership, Seattle Coffee Company's Vashon Island roasterie was upgraded and the company's organic coffee line was established. AFC Enterprises sold SCC to Starbucks in July 2003, retaining franchise rights in eleven countries, Hawaii and U.S. military bases. In November 2004, AFC sold those franchise rights (along with Cinnabon) to a newly-established affiliate of Roark Capital Group, FOCUS Brands, Inc.[2]
Starbucks closed the Vashon Island facility October 23, 2003 and moved production to their Kent, Washington roasterie. The historic Vashon Island roasterie building, Jim Stewart's original 1952 roaster and roastmaster Peter Larsen while no longer affiliated with SBC or Starbucks continues operations as The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie.
The Borders bookstore chain signed a contract with Seattle's Best Coffee in 2004 to convert Borders' in-store cafes to Seattle's Best cafes. As of 2006, approximately two-thirds of Borders' domestic superstores had completed the Seattle's Best conversion. Seattle's Best parent company Starbucks Corporation has contracted with Borders' competitor Barnes & Noble to sell its products in Barnes & Noble's Cafes. Starbucks also owns and operates locations within JCPenney department stores and Chapters and Indigo Books and Music bookstores in Canada.
Here's a Labor Day Weekend conundrum for you: Starbucks Corp. sent out a press release trumpeting its expansion of Seattle's Best Coffee outlets to 30,000 this week. There were just 3,000 six months ago.
At the same time, Starbucks has been listed as one of the country's biggest dispensers of layoffs during the recession. Daily Finance put the number at 21,316 since December 2007, but the Seattle Times' Melissa Allison, who covers coffee like TMZ tracks Lindsay Lohan, said SEC filings show Starbucks job losses of 32,000 in the U.S. between September 2008 and September 2009 alone.
So pink slips rain like espresso through a torn filter and yet Starbucks sees fit to expand one of its brands. It should be the company's moral imperative to rehire some of those it jettisoned. Somebody is needed to deliver the grind and maintain the brewing machinery at the Subway, Burger King and AMC Theater venues that account for the quick ascent to 30,000. That somebody should be a former employee.
When WalletPop asked the company whether it had rehired any laid-off workers to help multiply Seattle's Best, a Seattle's Best spokeswoman said that while there is crossover between Starbucks and Seattle's Best, she didn't have that information.
Erik Forman, member of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union, told WalletPop he had an accurate count of how many former workers have been rehired to help with Seattle's Best: zilch. Starbucks has "done nothing" to reach out to those it let go across the board, he said. To make matters worse, Starbucks' early-recession layoff victims have now run out of unemployment benefits, creating a large group of desperate folks, he added.
The push to promote Seattle's Best at already-existing venues such as fast-food joints served as a cost-efficient means of branching out without the company having to open stores and hire a lot of help. Michelle Gass, president of Seattle's Best, said the goal is to eventually reach 100,000 or more retailers.
"There have been layoffs all down the supply chain, but instead of spending money in marketing coffee to create jobs, they've
opted to invest in a marketing stream that doesn't create jobs," said Forman, a barista at a Starbucks in the Mall of America.
On the weekend that celebrates our workforce, let's hope that the company's once-proud reputation for treating employees well isn't just a hill of beans.
Seattle's Best Coffee has retail stores and grocery sub-stores in 20 states and provinces and the District of Columbia. Sub-stores can also be found within many other businesses and college campuses, including J.C. Penney Department Stores and over 400 locations in Borders Bookstores and Subway Restaurant .
Seattle's Best Coffee is generally cheaper than that of its parent, and is marketed as more of a working class coffee compared to the more yuppie-centric Starbucks.
Seattle's Best Coffee began as a combination ice cream and coffee shop called the Wet Whisker on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, Washington. Founder Jim Stewart purchased his first 12-pound coffee roaster from a peanut vendor on the beach in Southern California. Stewart purchased green coffee beans from local roasters to be roasted and sold at the Wet Whisker. By the end of the second summer, the shop had roasted and sold nearly 500 pounds (226 kg) of coffee.
By the end of 1970, the Whidbey Island Wet Whisker was sold to a local family, and Jim Stewart, along with his brother Dave, opened another ice cream and coffee store on Pier 70 on Seattle's Waterfront. The shop was called Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker. In 1982, Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker installed their first espresso machine and began serving espresso based beverages alongside fresh roasted coffee.
In 1983, the name again changed from Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker to Stewart Brothers Coffee. Shortly after, business began to expand, and new shops opened in Bellevue, Washington, and in Seattle's historic Pike Place Market a year later. In 1991, the company was renamed "Seattle's Best Coffee" after winning a local competition. In the same year, Seattle's Best Coffee was purchased by a group of investors who own Torrefazione Italia. They formed a new company made up of both parties called Seattle Coffee Holdings. In 1997, Seattle Coffee Holdings changed its name to Seattle Coffee Company.
In 1998, AFC Enterprises purchased Seattle Coffee Holdings and began franchising the Seattle's Best Coffee brand. During AFC Enterprise's ownership, Seattle Coffee Company's Vashon Island roasterie was upgraded and the company's organic coffee line was established. AFC Enterprises sold SCC to Starbucks in July 2003, retaining franchise rights in eleven countries, Hawaii and U.S. military bases. In November 2004, AFC sold those franchise rights (along with Cinnabon) to a newly-established affiliate of Roark Capital Group, FOCUS Brands, Inc.[2]
Starbucks closed the Vashon Island facility October 23, 2003 and moved production to their Kent, Washington roasterie. The historic Vashon Island roasterie building, Jim Stewart's original 1952 roaster and roastmaster Peter Larsen while no longer affiliated with SBC or Starbucks continues operations as The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie.
The Borders bookstore chain signed a contract with Seattle's Best Coffee in 2004 to convert Borders' in-store cafes to Seattle's Best cafes. As of 2006, approximately two-thirds of Borders' domestic superstores had completed the Seattle's Best conversion. Seattle's Best parent company Starbucks Corporation has contracted with Borders' competitor Barnes & Noble to sell its products in Barnes & Noble's Cafes. Starbucks also owns and operates locations within JCPenney department stores and Chapters and Indigo Books and Music bookstores in Canada.
Here's a Labor Day Weekend conundrum for you: Starbucks Corp. sent out a press release trumpeting its expansion of Seattle's Best Coffee outlets to 30,000 this week. There were just 3,000 six months ago.
At the same time, Starbucks has been listed as one of the country's biggest dispensers of layoffs during the recession. Daily Finance put the number at 21,316 since December 2007, but the Seattle Times' Melissa Allison, who covers coffee like TMZ tracks Lindsay Lohan, said SEC filings show Starbucks job losses of 32,000 in the U.S. between September 2008 and September 2009 alone.
So pink slips rain like espresso through a torn filter and yet Starbucks sees fit to expand one of its brands. It should be the company's moral imperative to rehire some of those it jettisoned. Somebody is needed to deliver the grind and maintain the brewing machinery at the Subway, Burger King and AMC Theater venues that account for the quick ascent to 30,000. That somebody should be a former employee.
When WalletPop asked the company whether it had rehired any laid-off workers to help multiply Seattle's Best, a Seattle's Best spokeswoman said that while there is crossover between Starbucks and Seattle's Best, she didn't have that information.
Erik Forman, member of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union, told WalletPop he had an accurate count of how many former workers have been rehired to help with Seattle's Best: zilch. Starbucks has "done nothing" to reach out to those it let go across the board, he said. To make matters worse, Starbucks' early-recession layoff victims have now run out of unemployment benefits, creating a large group of desperate folks, he added.
The push to promote Seattle's Best at already-existing venues such as fast-food joints served as a cost-efficient means of branching out without the company having to open stores and hire a lot of help. Michelle Gass, president of Seattle's Best, said the goal is to eventually reach 100,000 or more retailers.
"There have been layoffs all down the supply chain, but instead of spending money in marketing coffee to create jobs, they've
opted to invest in a marketing stream that doesn't create jobs," said Forman, a barista at a Starbucks in the Mall of America.
On the weekend that celebrates our workforce, let's hope that the company's once-proud reputation for treating employees well isn't just a hill of beans.
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