Caribou Coffee - History

History

In 1990, on a trip to Denali National Park in Alaska, Caribou Coffee was imagined by newlyweds John and Kim Puckett. The couple raised money to start the first Caribou Coffee shop in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, in 1992. Following several years of mixed performance, the Puckett's sold their controlling interest in the company in 1998 for $120 million to Atlanta-based Crescent Capital, which has since changed its name to Arcapita.

Since opening, the chain has expanded to 415 locations in 16 states and the District of Columbia, making it the second-largest operator of non-franchised coffeehouses in the United States, after Starbucks Corporation. This includes 24 licensed locations in the U.S. and two overseas markets. Caribou maintains its headquarters and coffee-roasting facility in the Minneapolis metropolitan area.

Arcapita was Caribou Coffee's majority shareholder. In 2002, Yusuf al-Qaradawi's involvement with the bank led to a protest of Caribou Coffee. That same year al-Qaradawi stepped down as chairman of the bank's Sharia board. In 2005, Arcapita completed an IPO of Caribou. On September 28, 2005, Caribou Coffee became a publicly traded company. In 2011, Arcapita sold their shares of Caribou Coffee. As of September 30, 2011, no one entity owns more than 8% of Caribou's outstanding shares.

On February 28, 2010, Caribou announced a corporate-wide re-branding, and began using their new "coffee bean caribou" logo officially on March 1, 2010.

• Original Caribou Coffee logo, in use from 1992 through February 28, 2010.

• New Caribou Coffee logo, in use from March 1, 2010 through present.