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Caribou Coffee

Caribou Coffee, the coffee/bakery chain founded in 1992 in Minnesota, began as a coffee shop for office workers and was only open Monday through Friday. Founder John Puckett, however, had to relocate to the suburbs when his initial downtown lease was rejected.

Caribou Coffee launched its IPO in 2005 under CEO Michael Coles, trading under the symbol CBOU. However, the chain was taken private in 2012 when German private-equity company JAB Holding bought Caribou Coffee for $340 million. As of 2021, JAB Holding owned Peet’s Coffee, Panera Bread, JDE, Pret A Manger and Krispy Kreme among others.

In 2013, Caribou Coffee announced plans to close 80 stores and convert 88 others to JAB Holding brand Peet’s Coffee. In 2018, Caribou Coffee and its parent company came under fire for a massive data breech that left customer credit cards compromised.

Key Data: Caribou Coffee

Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minn.

Segment: Quick Service

Restaurant Segment: LSR Coffee/Bakery

Number of US Locations: 447

2020 Sales: $283.6 million

Annual Growth

Source: Datassential Firefly 500

CEO: John Butcher

Parent/Group: JAB Holding Company

Caribou names Carlson vet CFO
Sep 10, 2008
MINNEAPOLIS Caribou Coffee Co. Inc. said it has hired Timothy J. Hennessy, the former chief financial officer of travel-agency giant Carlson Wagonlit Travel, as its new CFO. He fills the post vacated by George Mileusnic at the beginning of...
Past successes and future goals
Past successes and future goals
May 26, 2008
WASHINGTON —Speakers, attendees and panelists at the 2008 Women’s Foodservice Forum leadership development conference reflected on advances made by the industry’s female executives during the WFF’s...
Punch Neapolitan Pizza takes a swing at steady expansion
Punch Neapolitan Pizza takes a swing at steady expansion
Apr 14, 2008
MINNEAPOLIS —Ninety seconds. That’s the amount of time it takes for chefs at Punch Neapolitan Pizza to bake fresh ingredients into a pizza that prompted Meryl Streep to proclaim it is the best she has ever eaten. But even though speed...
Caribou adds 6 orange-flavored drinks
Caribou adds 6 orange-flavored drinks
Mar 11, 2008
MINNEAPOLIS Caribou Coffee has introduced a line of orange-flavored hot and cold drinks, citing research that shows consumers pick a coffee outlet on the basis of its beverage variety. The coffee chain said the Orange Infusion line was...
Recent CEO departures highlight severance package agreements
Recent CEO departures highlight severance package agreements
Jan 21, 2008
Add this to the ever-growing list of current pressures on restaurant executives: job security. As if the economy, consumer skittishness, slowing sales, increasing costs and looming legislation weren’t enough to keep the restaurant chief executive...
Caribou CFO resigns
Jan 11, 2008
MINNEAPOLIS Caribou Coffee Co. on Friday named former Buca finance chief Kaye O’Leary interim CFO after the resignation of George Mileusnic, who is the second high-level executive in two months to step down from the coffeehouse chain. ...
Caribou raises prices to offset climbing costs
Sep 26, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS Caribou Coffee has increased the prices of its coffee-based beverages by an average of 2.5 percent, or roughly 8 cents per drink, to offset rising labor, dairy and coffee expenses, the company told investors Wednesday. With the...
Mallet exits La Madeleine to be Caribou prexy, COO
Mar 20, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS Caribou Coffee Co. Inc., the coffeehouse segment’s No. 2 operator, has hired operations and human resources veteran Roz Mallet as its new president and chief operating officer. ...
Mallet exits La Madeleine to be Caribou prexy, COO
Mar 12, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS Caribou Coffee Co. Inc., the coffeehouse segment’s No. 2 operator, has hired operations and human resources veteran Roz Mallet as its new president and chief operating officer. ...
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