Dive Brief:
- Peet’s Coffee will close a number of locations across its system by the end of January, the company confirmed in an email to Restaurant Dive.
- Multiple Peet’s locations in the San Francisco Bay Area and a location in Evanston, Illinois, are slated to close, according to local media reports. Peet’s, which has over 465 restaurants in the U.S., China and the Middle East, didn’t indicate how many stores will close.
- The company said that these closures are part of a larger alignment of the business related to “long-term growth priorities and current market conditions.”
Dive Insight:
The closures look set to hit California the hardest, as a majority of Peet’s units are in the Golden State. Peet’s U.S. footprint included 199 company-owned units and zero franchised units in 2024, according to its franchise disclosure document. Of those locations, 168 are in California. From 2022 to 2024, it closed 18 units. Its California units have average unit volumes of about $1.5 million compared to $1 million for units outside the Golden State.
The realignment news come days after Keurig DrPepper launched an $18 billion takeover bid for Peet’s parent company, JDE Peet’s. The companies previously agreed to a merger in August, The deal will result in Keurig separating the merged businesses into two publicly traded companies that includes Global Coffee Co., which would encompass Peet’s.
“As we move forward, we remain dedicated to the quality, craftsmanship, and heritage that have defined Peet’s for the past 60 years, while embracing new opportunities to innovate and grow,” Peet’s wrote in an email.
That innovation continued into this month with the launch of Peet’s winter menu, which includes its first limited-time offer to include Táche Pistachio Milk. The company also brought back its Vitality Menu, which features a Cold Brew Protein Smoothie and a Matcha Peach Protein Smoothie. Last year, it offered Peetnik Rewards members a Cold Brew Pass that gave consumers a daily cold brew for 30 days for $30.
Peet’s is far from the only chain to close locations within the last 12 months. As part of its turnaround plan, Starbucks closed 400 units last year and laid off 900 corporate employees. Outside of the coffee segment, Noodles & Company, Salad and Go and Wendy’s have planned to close or have already closed units.
