Who Owns Peet's Coffee?

Alfred Peet opened Peet's Coffee, Tea and Spices in 1966 at the corner of Vine and Walnut Streets in Berkeley, California, near the University of California, Berkeley campus. Peet grew up in the Netherlands, where his father ran a coffee and tea business in Amsterdam. Before emigrating to the United States, Peet worked as a tea taster for Twinings in London. He brought European coffee roasting expertise to America at a time when most American coffee was pre-ground, vacuum-packed, and lightly roasted.

The original Peet's store sold roasted coffee beans rather than cups of coffee. Peet roasted beans in small batches on-site, focusing on dark-roast profiles that brought out the oils and bold flavors of the beans. This approach was radically different from the prevailing American coffee culture of the 1960s.

Peet's gained a devoted following in the Berkeley area. The store expanded to four locations in the East Bay. Three of Peet's early employees, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker, were inspired by Peet's approach and went on to found Starbucks in Seattle in 1971. Starbucks initially sourced its coffee beans from Peet's for its first year of operation. Peet's influence on the American specialty coffee movement is widely acknowledged, and Alfred Peet is frequently called "the grandfather of specialty coffee."

In 1979, Peet sold the business to Sal Bonavita, a former Arnold Bread executive. Peet continued working with the company as a coffee buyer and consultant until 1983. In 1984, Jerry Baldwin bought Peet's four locations from Bonavita. In 1987, Baldwin sold his stake in Starbucks to focus exclusively on Peet's Coffee.

Under Baldwin's leadership, Peet's expanded beyond its Berkeley roots. The company opened new locations in the San Francisco Bay Area and began selling packaged coffee through grocery stores. In 2001, Peet's Coffee and Tea Company completed its IPO on Nasdaq under the symbol PEET, raising $26.4 million. The company opened a new roasting plant in Alameda, California, in 2007, replacing its former Emeryville operations.

In 2012, JAB Holding Company acquired Peet's for $977.6 million, taking the company private. This was JAB's first major acquisition in the coffee sector and began a years-long consolidation strategy. Under JAB's ownership, Peet's acquired Mighty Leaf Tea in 2014 for an undisclosed sum. In 2015, Peet's acquired Stumptown Coffee Roasters, a Portland-based specialty roaster, and a majority stake in Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea, a Chicago-based roaster.

Also in 2015, JAB merged Peet's with Jacobs Douwe Egberts to form JDE Peet's, creating one of the world's largest coffee companies by revenue. JDE Peet's went public on Euronext Amsterdam in May 2020 at an IPO price of approximately 31.50 euros per share, valuing the company at approximately 14.9 billion euros.

In October 2017, Peet's opened its first international location in Shanghai, China, marking the brand's expansion beyond the U.S. market. Peet's has since opened additional locations in China, targeting premium shopping districts and office buildings in Shanghai and other major Chinese cities.

In 2018, Peet's opened a second roasting facility in Suffolk, Virginia. The 175,000-square-foot facility cost $58 million and expanded Peet's production capacity for its East Coast and international distribution.

In August 2025, Keurig Dr Pepper announced its agreement to acquire JDE Peet's for $18 billion in cash. The acquisition was declared unconditional on March 27, 2026, and settled on April 1, 2026. KDP plans to separate into two independent publicly traded companies by late 2026: Global Coffee Co. (including Peet's, Keurig, and JDE brands) and Beverage Co. (including Dr Pepper, 7UP, Snapple, and other North American soft drink brands).