Who else thinks the national coffee market could use a jolt?
Most well-caffeinated Americans are familiar with the longstanding rivalry between Starbucks and Dunkin’, but if you live east of the Mississippi, you might be less familiar with an increasingly formidable challenger: Dutch Bros. Coffee. The fast-growing chain has more than 850 locations across 17 states, but most are concentrated on the West Coast, in the Southwest, and Texas, with a smattering of locations in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama.
That’s about to change, as Dutch Bros. is set to open its first East Coast location, in Davenport, Florida, about a half hour from Orlando. The location, slated to open later this month or early next, will officially make Dutch Bros. a bicoastal chain. To mark the occasion—and hopefully get a few Floridians hooked on its brand—the coffee company recently embarked on a mini tour of the Sunshine State where it offered free drinks to local java lovers.
Although the Oregon-based chain is still tiny in comparison to its multinational rival up in Seattle (Dutch Bros. had $739 million in revenue in 2022 versus Starbucks’s $32.3 billion), the company is on an impressive growth trajectory, thanks in part to its friendly branding and drive-through-centric retail model. A report last year from Nation’s Restaurant News and market research firm Datassential put Dutch Bros. at No. 3 behind Starbucks and Dunkin’ among U.S. coffee and bakery chains.
A Dutch Bros. spokesperson tells Fast Company that it plans to open 150 to 165 new locations this year, including additional stores in Florida, and that it will have more news to share on that front when it reports fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday after the bell.
Despite the company’s growth, Dutch Bros. stock has struggled since the company went public in 2021. Shares are down more than 26% over the past 12 months and more than 12% year to date.
