Blue Bottle Coffee

This article is about American coffee chain. For historical coffee house in Vienna, Austria, see The Blue Bottle Coffee House.
Blue Bottle Coffee, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryCoffee industry
Founded2002; 24 years ago (2002)
FounderW. James Freeman
Headquarters
Oakland, California
,
U.S.
Area served
United States
Key people
W. James Freeman, Founder
Karl Strovink, CEO
OwnerNestlé (68%)
Websitebluebottlecoffee.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.[1] The company focuses on single-origin beans.[2]

Locations

Originating 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.[3] The company operates 99 stores as of June 2021, with locations in California, New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, Seoul, Jeju City,[4] Kyoto, Kobe, Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore.[5]

History

W. James Freeman, CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee, in 2014

W. James Freeman founded Blue Bottle Coffee in the early 2000s in Oakland's Temescal District.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8] The company-owned stores carry off-menu items such as the "Gibraltar", a form of cortado.[3]

In 2012, Blue Bottle received $20 million in venture capital investment, led by True Ventures.[9]

In January 2014, Blue Bottle raised $25.75 million in a new round of funding.[10] In 2015, Blue Bottle completed a venture capital round in which it raised $70 million from investors led by Fidelity.[11]

Blue Bottle Coffee stand in the Moynihan Train Hall (Penn Station) New York

Since its inception, the company has raised $120 million from investors as of 2017.[12] In February 2015, Blue Bottle Coffee opened its first location in Tokyo, Japan, in the Kiyosumi neighborhood.[13] In September 2017, Nestle S.A., the world's largest food and drinks company, acquired a majority stake of Blue Bottle.[14] 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".[15] Blue Bottle expected to increase sales by 70% in 2017.[16]

In May 2019, Blue Bottle Coffee opened its first location in Seoul, South Korea.[17] In December 2019, Blue Bottle Coffee announced they would test eliminating disposable cups at some of their shops to increase sustainability efforts, with the goal being zero waste within one year.[18] 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.[19]

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.[20]

In August 2024, Blue Bottle Coffee opened a gift-centric store in Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore.[21] In April 2025, this location was converted to a café and became the company's first location in South East Asia.[22] It has since gone on to open its second store in Singapore at Paragon in July 2025.[23]

In December 2025, it was reported that Nestlé was considering selling Blue Bottle.[24]

Labor relations

In April 2024, Blue Bottle Coffee’s Boston area locations filed to unionize. Baristas cited multiple grievances with the company as reason for unionizing, including not being paid a living wage, mishandling of sexual harassment,[25] and not being given input into café operations. The union requested voluntary recognition from the company, and subsequently engaged in a state-wide walkout when Blue Bottle Coffee refused to recognize the union.[26]

In September 2024, Blue Bottle Coffee fired union organizer Remy Roskin.[27] In May 2025, Blue Bottle Independent Union (BBIU) conducted another state-wide walkout across Blue Bottle Coffee’s greater Boston area locations in protest of multiple alleged unfair labor practices, including the company attempting to install surveillance cameras.[28][29] On June 17 2025, four Blue Bottle cafés in California’s East Bay area (Berkeley, Old Oakland, Piedmont, and W.C. Morse) announced their intent to join BBIU. The next day, June 18, Blue Bottle terminated union organizer BB Young, which BBIU alleges was illegal retaliation. On July 31, the four East Bay area locations won recognition through an NLRB election in a 22 - 5 vote. This vote resulted in nearly 12% of U.S. Blue Bottle locations being unionized.[30] In November 2025, roughly 80 Blue Bottle workers around Boston and 35 workers in California went on strike ahead of the Thanksgiving weekend, with workers accusing the company of negotiating with the union in bad faith.[31]

See also

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. ^ a b 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. ^ Olanoff, Drew (October 15, 2012). "Hipster Coffee Lovers Rejoice, Blue Bottle Coffee Raises $20M". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  10. ^ de la Merced, Michael J. (January 30, 2014). "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.
  22. ^ "Blue Bottle Coffee to open in Lumine Singapore at Raffles City on April 3". The Straits Times. March 5, 2025. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved May 1, 2025.
  23. ^ www.lifestyleasia.com https://www.lifestyleasia.com/sg/dining/food/blue-bottle-coffee-to-open-second-singapore-store-paragon-july-2025/. Retrieved December 23, 2025. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ^ "Exclusive: Nestlé explores sale of Blue Bottle Coffee, sources say | Reuters".
  25. ^ More Perfect Union (April 29, 2024). Why Blue Bottle Workers Are Unionizing. Retrieved June 5, 2025 – via YouTube.
  26. ^ "Blue Bottle Workers Go Independent, File for Union Election – Working Mass". working-mass.com. April 13, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
  27. ^ "Blue Bottle Workers Rally at Harvard Square Location to Protest Firing of Union Organizer | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
  28. ^ Umholtz, Katelyn (May 7, 2025). "Blue Bottle Coffee union workers walk out over bargaining dispute". www.boston.com. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
  29. ^ "May Bargaining Update". Blue Bottle Independent Union. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
  30. ^ "Blue Bottle workers at East Bay's four locations have unionized". NOSH East Bay. August 6, 2025.
  31. ^ Toby, Yogev (November 26, 2025). "Unionized Blue Bottle workers go on strike ahead of Thanksgiving weekend". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on December 14, 2025. Retrieved December 14, 2025.
allikas: Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Bottle_Coffee_Company