Stumptown Coffee Roasters
Encyclopedia
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
roaster
Coffee roasting
Roasting coffee transforms the chemical and physical properties of green coffee beans into roasted coffee products. The roasting process is what produces the characteristic flavor of coffee by causing the green coffee beans to expand and to change in color, taste, smell, and density...
and retailer based in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The chain's flagship cafe
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
and roastery on SE 45th and Division opened in 1999. Three other cafes, a roastery and a tasting annex have since opened in Portland as well as two locations in Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
and one in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Business model
The business practices and quality standards of Stumptown Coffee Roasters have led to them being recognized as having "revolutionized the coffee business" and helped "refine coffee drinkers' palates" in Portland. Founder Duane Sorenson and Stumptown Coffee Roasters have been credited as being part of the so-called "Third WaveThird Wave Coffee
The Third Wave of Coffee refers to a current movement to produce high-quality coffee, and consider coffee as an artisanal foodstuff, like wine, rather than a commodity, like wheat...
" of the coffee movement.
In pursuit of the best quality coffee, Sorenson and his employees spend considerable time visiting farms in person and is willing to pay high prices for coffee he deems worthy—occasionally three or four times fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
prices, he once set the record for highest price ever paid for coffee beans.
Sorenson is known for forming lasting relationships with the coffee producers.
In 2011 Stumptown took on a large investment from private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
fund TSG Consumer Partners
TSG Consumer Partners
TSG Consumer Partners is one of the largest and oldest private equity firms focused on growth capital investments in middle-market companies in the branded consumer products sector...
in New York, including re-registering the business under TSG in the state of Oregon. Due to tax reasons Stumptown is now fiscally based in Delaware. This lead many to declare that Stumptown had sold out
Selling out
"Selling out" is the compromising of integrity, morality, or principles in exchange for money or "success" . It is commonly associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream audience...
, despite confirmation that Sorenson was in fact still running the company.
Locations
Stumptown operates four cafes and two auxiliary facilities in Portland. Stumptown has cafes on SE 45th & Division St., SE 34th & Belmont, downtown at SW 3rd & Ash St, and inside the Ace HotelClyde Hotel
The Clyde Hotel is a historic hotel located in the downtown area of Portland, Oregon, United States. It was renamed to Ben Stark Hotel in 1987, then became the Ace Hotel Portland in 2005.-National Register:...
at 1022 S.W. Stark St. There is a roasting facility at SE 34th & Division St. and a retail annex two doors down from the Belmont cafe. The original location on SE Division was previously a hair salon called "The Hair Bender", whose name Stumptown adopted for one of their signature espresso blends.
Stumptown also opened an annex specifically for tasting coffee. The annex used the Clover 1s brewing machine to brew its coffee, but discontinued its use when the Coffee Equipment Company, the owner of the Clover 1s, was acquired by Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
.
In November 2007, Stumptown opened two cafes in Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. They are located at 12th Avenue East & East Spring and East Pine & Belmont.
In September 2009, Stumptown opened a cafe in New York's
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Ace Hotel. The company is currently also considering expanding to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and San Francisco.
A temporary "pop-up" location appeared in Amsterdam's De Pijp neighborhood in May of 2010. Opened by Sorenson, it was never intended to be permanent and closed its doors later that same year.
"Bikes to Rwanda" Project
In 2006 after a business trip to RwandaRwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
to visit coffee growers' cooperatives, Sorenson founded a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
whose mission was to provide cargo bicycles for the cooperative coffee growers. In addition, bike shops for the maintenance and repair of the bikes were to be established in Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
. To date, five are in operation. Bikes to Rwanda
Bikes to Rwanda
Bikes to Rwanda is a non-profit international aid relief organization established in Portland, Oregon, United States in 2006 by Stumptown Coffee Roasters founder and CEO Duane Sorenson following a business trip to visit coffee growers' cooperatives in Rwanda....
is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and has acquired numerous partner organizations.