Peet’s Coffee is a San Francisco Bay Area based specialty coffee roaster and retailer. Founded in 1966 by Alfred Peet in Berkeley, California. Peet’s introduced the U.S. to its darker roasted Arabica coffee in blends including French Roast and grades appropriate for espresso drinks. Originally, Peet’s sold coffee beans and not cups of coffee. Peet sold his business in 1979 to Sal Bonavita and stayed on as a consultant and coffee buyer until 1983.
In 1984, Jerry Baldwin, a co-founder of Starbucks, bought Peet’s four locations from Bonavita. In 1987, Baldwin and his Starbucks co-investors sold Starbucks to Howard Schultz and his investors, so they could focus on Peet’s. In 2012, Peet’s was acquired by Joh. A Benckiser, a German investment group, JAB Holding. In 2015, Stumptown Coffee Roasters became a wholly owned subsidiary of Peet’s.