Stumptown to be sold to Peet’s Coffee & Tea

Peets Coffee & Tea is now in the process of purchasing fellow West Coast coffee retailer Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Eater reports.

At a speech at the Urban Land Institute on Tuesday, San Francisco Federal Reserve chief John Williams said the central bank is still likely to raise short-term interest rates this year.

“Stumptown’s journey has been about creating a coffee experience that surpasses all expectations”. “I’m excited and confident that Peet’s will continue to support our journey in a way that uniquely reflects who we are”.

Peet’s will obtain ownership of Stumptown from its existing shareholders, including New York private equity fund TSG Consumer Partners LLC, which has held a majority stake in the company since 2011, according to a press release.

The acquisition for Peet’s – which itself began as a specialty coffee operation in Berkeley in 1966, around the corner from Chez Panisse – looks to be a way of adding a higher-end, more delicately roasted, and specifically sourced brand of coffees to its own line, perhaps to distinguish itself from the ‘Bucks. There’s no word yet whether Peet’s shops will sell Stumptown coffee or whether it will open more actual Stumptown locations. Stumptown, meanwhile, was attracted by Peet’s fluency with logistics and other growth-oriented capabilities.

The move shows how the roasters that helped popularize gourmet coffee and espresso drinks in the US endeavor to keep up with increasingly discerning palates.

Stumptown, founded in 1999 by Duane Sorenson, now gives Peet’s a few millennial luster. “They’re not going to fold us; we’re going to continue to operate independently, and we’ll continue to operate our of our headquarters in Portland”.