What consumer needs is Peet’s satisfying?

Alfred Peet had grown up working in his family’s coffee business in the Netherlands, so after several years of living and working in the United States, in 1966 he invested in a roaster and decided to open his own shop selling coffee beans and loose tea in California. Peet bought premium coffee beans and roasted them the same way they did in the old country, and thus the gourmet coffee movement in the United States was quietly born.
When customers came into his Berkeley shop, Peet would offer them a fragrant cup of coffee while they waited for their beans to be freshly roasted. Customers enjoying and talking about the coffee created a relaxed community atmosphere that soon proved contagious. Today Peet’s Coffee & Tea has more than 120 neighborhood stores, selling and serving a variety of apparently recession-proof coffee and tea products. It also distributes its products online and through more than 8,400 grocery-store partners around the country.