Peet's Coffee is a San Francisco Bay Area-based specialty coffee roaster and retailer owned by JAB Holding Company via JDE Peet's. Founded in 1966 by Alfred Peet in Berkeley, California, Peet's introduced the United States to its darker roasted Arabica coffee in blends including French roast and grades appropriate for espresso drinks. Peet's offers freshly roasted beans, brewed coffee and espresso beverages, as well as bottled cold brew. In 2007, Peet's opened the first LEED Gold Certified roastery in the United States. Peet's coffee is sold in over 14,000 grocery stores across the United States. As of November 2021, the company had 200 stores in the United States. History Alfred Peet grew up in the Netherlands, where his father owned and operated a coffee wholesale and coffee bean grindery. Peet trained with his father to roast and grind coffee. In 1938, at the age of 18, he moved to London where he was employed by Twinings coffee and tea company. He also spent time in New Zealand and Indonesia before moving to San Francisco in 1955 where he worked for a coffee and tea importer. In 1966, Peet opened the first "Peet's Coffee, Tea & Spices" in Berkeley, California on Vine Street near the University of California, Berkeley campus. It originally sold coffee beans, not cups of coffee. His coffee beans were hand-roasted in small batches. The company grew to four locations and became known as "Peet's Coffee and Tea." Peet wanted to bring better coffee to the American market and became known as "the godfather of gourmet coffee in the U.S." The original location at Vine and Walnut remains open. The second location of Peet's Coffee was in Menlo Park, CA. Peet sold his business to Sal Bonavita in 1979, but remained working with the company as a coffee buyer and consultant until 1983. In 1984, Jerry Baldwin, a Starbucks founder, bought Peet's four locations from Sal Bonavita. In 1987, Baldwin and his Starbucks co-investors sold Starbucks to focus on Peet's. Howard Schultz, Starbucks' new owner, entered into a four-year non-compete agreement in the Bay Area. In 2001, the company was incorporated as Peet's Coffee and Tea Company and had its initial public offering. The company was listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol PEET, and 3.3 million shares were sold at $8 a share. Shares climbed to $9.38 and the company raised $26.4 million. Peet's opened a roasting