Starbucks to acquire Seattle's Best Coffee
While relatively small as corporate mergers go — Starbucks will pay $72 million in cash to Seattle Coffee’s owner, Atlanta-based AFC Enterprises — the deal between cross-town rivals unleashed a piping-hot buzz in the city that launched the specialty-coffee phenomenon.
“People have been coming in all day, telling us if they change the coffee at Seattle’s Best, they won’t come here anymore,” said Shannon Knauf, a barista at a Seattle’s Best in Kirkland.
Steve Schickler, president of Seattle's Best Coffee, vowed that "we will not compromise or change our coffees -- it’s going to be the same."
While some speculated that Seattle’s Best cafes may eventually be closed or converted to Starbucks outlets, executives from both companies stressed that it will be “business as usual” until the deal closes, a process which could take around 90 days.
But even if all three brands ultimately stay intact, some java hounds lamented that the merger leaves one less choice when selecting which local coffee company to patronize.
“It’s horrible. Now it’s only Starbucks and Tully’s, basically,” said Ben Morris of Seattle as he waited in line at a Seattle’s Best cafe downtown. “I’m pretty much anti-Starbucks so I guess I’ll have to go to Tully’s. I think SBC has the best coffee of the three.”
Torrefazione Italia, known as “Tory” or “T.I.” to diehards, is a “super-premium” brand that aims to recreate the classic Italian coffee-bar experience, serving Italian-roasted coffee in ceramic cups and emphasizing a relaxed ambience.
“The Torrefazione Italia customer is a very loyal coffee drinker,” said Jim Clarke, former president of Seattle Coffee. “These are the real coffee enthusiasts. As Starbucks became kind of more pedestrian, a lot of the true eclectic coffee drinkers switched to Torrefazione Italia — if you were a real coffee drinker, that’s the coffee you’d drink.”
Diana James, Lowell Jensen and Beth Gibson have made a weekly date of walking from Mountlake to Torrefazione Italia downtown — where they stop for “coffee and goodies” — for 16 years. They like the ceramic cups and cozy ambience.
“There’s something kind of neat about this place,” James said. “I don’t really have anything against Starbucks, but you always feel like you’re in the same place. There’s an atmosphere (at Torrefazione) that’s unique, whereas Starbucks is more corporate.”
Seattle’s Best has spiffy cafes of its own — some are equipped with mocha bars and wireless Internet service — but the brand is mainly geared toward wholesale and grocery-store accounts. Its coffee is known for a lighter roast and also is sold at on-the-go venues Starbucks tends to avoid, such as convenience stores and fast-food outlets, including McDonald’s.
“I think it’s a pity because the best thing for the business community and customers is diversity. I don’t want the same product everywhere I go,” said Kiki Aigner, in Kirkland. “But in terms of the big three, the differences are so slight — all of their coffee is pretty good. Even though I don’t like Starbucks, they’re always in a good location, they’re always clean, have a great view and aren’t dark. It’s more about atmosphere than anything else.”
Jake Batsell: 206-464-2718 or jbatsell@seattletimes.com. Seattle Times business reporter Kristina Shevory contributed to this report.