Caribou Coffee

After seeing quite a few Caribou Coffee shops around town, I was wondering if stores such as this have had an impact on Starbucks.

A blurb about Caribou, incase you're not familiar with them:

Since opening, the chain has expanded to 415 locations in fifteen states and Washington, D.C., making it the second largest operator of non-franchised coffeehouses in the United States, after Starbucks Corporation

A Consumer Report article from November 2004 said:

Caribou, a pricey brew from a coffee-shop chain, has topped 41 other regular and decaffeinated Colombian and Kona coffees in tests performed for the December 2004 edition of Consumer Reports. Inexpensive Eight O’Clock and Dunkin’ Donuts placed second and third respectively, beating brews from Starbucks and Seattle’s Best.

Also interesting, I found that there has been quite a bit of Caribou controversy. Caribou Coffee was started by two newlyweds at a time when Starbucks had only 116 outlets. Eventually they ran into money trouble:

So, in December 2000, Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. announced that it was selling a 70% stake (later to become an 87.8%) to Atlanta-based Crescent Capital, a deep-pockets investor backed by First Islamic Investment Bank of Bahrain for $80 million; founders John and Kim Puckett left the board, but CEO Don Dempsey stayed on to run the company for the new owners.

People got concerned about the Islamic affiliation, especially because Dr. Al-Qaradawi, the chairman, said some rather shady things about hating Americans and the benefits of wife-beating. Snopes reassures us that these things are no longer a concern.

In July 2002, the First Islamic Investment Bank announced that they had severed all ties with Dr. Al-Qaradawi, so the issue is now moot. First Islamic also hired Washington, D.C., law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to review its charitable donations, and they have certified that no charitable contributions from Caribou's coffers go to groups banned under U.S. law.

Thus, it seems pretty safe to support Caribou Coffee. Look at all the good things they've done:

Through its partnership with Rainforest Alliance, Caribou is committed to agriculturally, environmentally, and socially responsible coffee. By the end of 2008, half of all the green coffee Caribou buy will be Rainforest Alliance Certified.

Caribou Coffee is the first coffee company to volunteer itself as a sponsor of the Specialty Coffee Association of America's Producer Support Fund. Caribou donated at the highest level to the fund established by SCAA to assist coffee growers who are association members and farmers who do not have the funds to attend SCAA functions.