Alfred Peet opened the first Peet’s store in Berkeley, California in 1966, selling bags of freshly roasted beans. After 5 years of pioneering the United States into the world of gourmet coffee, Mr. Peet took 3 young men under his wing to train into the art of coffee business.¹

Those three entrepreneurs would go on to found Starbucks using the knowledge and the beans provided to them by Mr. Peet. In 1973, Mr. Peet stopped selling his beans to Starbucks and encouraged the company to start roasting their own beans.² Mr. Peet personally trained Jim Reynolds into the role of Starbuck’s first official Roastmaster.

Jerry Baldwin, one of the three Starbucks founders who trained under Mr. Peet, went on to purchase Peet’s from Sal Bonavita in 1984. In an effort to preserve Mr. Peet’s love and enthusiasm for the best, fresh roast, Baldwin recruited Reynolds away from Starbucks, making Reynolds the second Roastmaster of Peet’s.¹ A few years later, in 1987, Baldwin and his Starbucks co-investors decided to make Peet’s their full-time passion and sold Starbucks to Howard Schultz.

In short, Peet’s not only came before Starbucks, but it also informed and inspired Starbucks! So much so, that even the founders of Starbuck’s went back to Peet’s to continue Mr. Peet’s legacy of brewing fresh, craft coffee.