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| Product type | Coffee |
|---|---|
| Owner | Nestlé (2022–present) |
| Produced by | Starbucks |
| Country | United States |
| Introduced | 1970; 56 years ago (1970) |
| Previous owners |
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| Website | www |
Seattle's Best Coffee LLC is a subsidiary ofNestlé whose brand is used to sell wholesalecoffee,ground coffee, whole-bean coffee, and coffeeK-cups. While this brand used to have coffeehouses in theUnited States, it no longer advertises them on its website. Some of these coffeehouses have converted to Starbucks while Starbucks previously owned this brand.[1]GoTo Foods owns the franchising rights for this brand's coffeehouses for international markets and military bases.[2] Starbucks still roasts the coffee for this brand[3] despite having sold this subsidiary toNestlé in 2022.[4]
Seattle's Best Coffee is generally less expensive thanStarbucks, its former parent, and is marketed as more of aworking class coffee compared to theupmarket Starbucks.[5][failed verification]
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Seattle's Best Coffee began as a combination ice cream and coffee shop called the Wet Whisker inCoupeville on Whidbey Island, northwest ofSeattle, in 1969.[6] Founder Jim 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 lbs (226 kg) of coffee. By the end of the following year, the Vashon Island Wet Whisker was sold, and Jim Stewart, along with his brother Dave, opened another ice cream and coffee store on Pier 70 on Seattle'sWaterfront. The shop was called Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker. In 1982, it began serving espresso based beverages alongside other coffee products.
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 inBellevue, Washington, and at Seattle's historicPike Place Market a year later. In 1991, the company was renamed "Seattle's Best Coffee" after winning a local competition.
Around 1995, the company was purchased by a group of investors who ownTorrefazione 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 Enterprises' ownership, Seattle Coffee Company'sVashon Island roasterie was upgraded and the company's organic coffee line was established. AFC Enterprises sold SBC to Starbucks in July 2003, retaining franchise rights in eleven countries,Hawaii and U.S. military bases.[7]
Starbucks closed the Vashon Island facility on October 23, 2003, and moved production to theirKent, Washington, roastery. SBC had previously stored beans at thePort of Seattle and transported them to Vashon for roasting, which was deemed insufficient for the company's needs.[8] The historic Vashon Island roastery building which includes Jim Stewart's original 1952 roaster, while no longer affiliated with SBC or Starbucks, was bought and reopened as "The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie" when the owner of The Minglement, an organic foods, herbs, and spices store, decided to move her store to a larger store.[9] This store continues to employ Peter Larsen, the coffee roast master who worked at this store when it was previously part of Seattle's Best Coffee.[9]
On October 18, 2022, Starbucks sold Seattle's Best Coffee to Nestlé.[4]
TheBorders bookstore chain signed a contract with Seattle's Best Coffee in 2004 to convert Borders' in-store cafes to Seattle's Best cafes. By 2006, approximately two-thirds of Borders' domestic superstores had completed the Seattle's Best conversion. Seattle's Best parent companyStarbucks Corporation has contracted with Borders' competitorBarnes & Noble to sell its products in Barnes & Noble's Cafes. (Borders has since completely shut down due to bankruptcy.) Starbucks also owns and operates locations withinChapters andIndigo Books and Music bookstores in Canada.
Seattle's Best Coffee Cafes are found in largerJCPenney department stores when the company signed a contract in the late 1990s to have in-store cafés in department stores.
Seattle's Best Coffee Cafes and Kiosks can also be found on all 21 ships in the fleet of the cruise lineRoyal Caribbean International under the name "Latte-Tudes" or "Cafe Promenade". The presence of the Seattle's Best outlets on Royal Caribbean is also tied in with all other free-of-charge coffee items on the ship also being exclusively supplied by SBC. The Oasis class ships also have Starbucks outlet with the regular land price list, SBC is for-free (included in cruise cost)
On February 16, 2010,Burger King announced that they would add Seattle's Best Coffee to their menu in over 7,000 restaurants.[10]
On May 12, 2010, Starbucks announced a rebranding of Seattle's Best Coffee, with a new logo and plans to expand Seattle's Best Coffee distribution from 3,000 locations to 30,000 by the end of the 2010 fiscal year.[11] The rebranding of the Seattle's Best Coffee logo from the detailed, vintage logo to the clinical, generic design for the new mass market was met with much criticism, with the new logo being likened to a label for eye-drops, a blood-bank sign and a gas station logo.[12]
On February 8, 2011,Delta Air Lines and Seattle's Best entered into an agreement to offer Seattle's Best Coffee onboard all domestic, international, andDelta Connection flights beginning March 1, 2011.[13] Since February 2015; however, Delta adjusted its coffee offerings in favor of Seattle's Best's then-parent company Starbucks on all flights.[14]
The Swedish fast food chainMax Hamburgers ended its partnership with Seattle's Best Coffee and discontinued serving their coffee on November 13, 2019.[15]
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