Seattle’s Best Coffee Accelerates Growth, Expands Leadership Team

Seattle’s Best Coffee Accelerates Growth, Expands Leadership Team
February 02, 2010

Seattle’s Best Coffee, a division of Seattle-based Starbucks Corp., has seen accelerated growth of its franchise base, signing an additional 10 new franchisees. These new franchisees, which plan to open cafes in several states (including California, Illinois, Texas and New York), will help grow its current cafe count from more than 550 as the brand expands across the United States. Seattle’s Best Coffee also has recently expanded its leadership team with the appointments of long-time Starbucks veteran Michelle Gass, president, Seattle’s Best Coffee, to lead and grow the brand, and John Wuycheck to fill the new position of vice president, franchising business development, to specifically focus on the franchising opportunity. “The rapid expansion of Seattle’s Best Coffee will continue to be driven by opportunities to broaden our overall portfolio of cafes, consumer packaged goods and foodservice accounts,” Gass said. “We think there is a very big opportunity--much larger than the business today--that is complementary to the Starbucks brand and will be a significant competitor to other brands that currently exist in the market.”