Business Matters: Five Fun Facts about Caribou Coffee
At the Caribou Coffee headquarters in Brooklyn Center, baristas aren’t afraid to mix it up. And
and not just mix, but blend and create all kinds of beverages for their caffeinated-starved customers. But there’s something else that goes on here you might not know.
Fun Fact #1
All Caribou beans are roasted in Brooklyn Center
“Minnesota is home to Caribou Coffee and I think what a lot of people don’t know is that all our coffee is actually roasted right here in Brooklyn Center,” said Kayleen Tecker, Caribou Coffee spokesperson.
That’s right. From light roast to dark roast, it’s all done here in Brooklyn Center. That’s a lot of beans, which leads us to fun fact number two.
Fun Fact #2
Caribou roasts 20 million pounds of beans a year
“We bring in 20 million pounds of beans a year that’s roasted in Brooklyn Center,” said Tecker.
That works out to 390,000 pounds or nine to 10 shipments of coffee a week.
“They come via plane, train, boat,” said Tecker. “It’s a variety of different countries. Costa Rica and Colombia we get a lot of our beans from. So we have an amazing team of coffee buyers that travel the world to find the best beans and bring them home.”
Fun Fact #3
Caribou taste testers create more than a dozen blends
And it’s not just a lot of beans, but a lot of different kinds. Caribou sells more than a dozen different blends.
“Single origin means all the beans from that coffee were sourced from the same country of origin, but some are favorites are blends,” said Tecker. “So our Caribou Blend is a blend of some of our favorite beans roasted a specific way.”
Fun Fact #4
Caribou has top-selling coffee shop in Kuwait
Caribou not only gets beans from different countries, it has coffee shops overseas too. So where is the number one place for Caribou Coffee overseas? The answer may surprise you.
“In Kuwait. It’s really interesting. So you could walk into a coffee shop in the Middle East, into a Caribou Coffee and it’s going to look similar to walking into the Caribou Coffee in Brooklyn Center,” said Tecker.
Fun Fact #5
Caribou has 100% clean label ingredients
And fun fact number five is something Caribou takes pride in. Caribou completed the change last year.
“What a lot of people don’t know is that we’re a 100 percent clean label,” said Tecker referring to Caribou’s commitment to no artificial ingredients. “My favorite example is that all of our chocolate drinks are made with 100 percent real chocolate chips, not powder. We fresh make our whip cream every morning as well.”
