Steven E.F. Brown
April 8, 2014
San Francisco Business Times
Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. opened its first shop in Washington, D.C. at 1701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, “just steps from the White House,” on Monday.
About 400 or 500 steps from the front door of the White House, depending on the length of President Barack Obama‘s stride should he decide to stroll over there for a cup of coffee, though it seems more likely he’d send an aide, and the coffee’s probably pretty good in the White House anyway.
Emeryville-based Peet’s, which has its major roastery in Alameda, plans to open 23 stores in Washington this year, most of them in spaces picked up from Caribou Coffee. This will become Peet’s Coffee’s biggest cafe market on the East Coast, though it already sells its beans in grocery stores around the country.
Last year, Peet’s opened stores in Cleveland and Columbus, as well as Detroit and Pittsburgh. It also plans 20 new stores in Chicago this year.
Dave Burwick is president and CEO of Peet’s Coffee. The company, now private, was started in 1966 by Alfred Peet at the corner of Walnut and Vine streets in north Berkeley.
Steven E. F. Brown 