retail coffee and tea founded 1992 headquarters brooklyn center minnesota u.s. key people mike tattersfield ceo number of employees 6 000 employees . 1 parent joh . a. benckiser website www.cariboucoffee.com caribou coffee company is a specialty coffee and espresso retailer . caribou coffee is a minnesota based company owned by german holding company jab that specializes in espresso beverages their own blends of coffee tea sandwiches and bakery goods . there are more than 273 company owned coffeehouses in 18 states and the district of columbia as well as 203 franchise locations in 10 countries . 3 contents 1 history 2 see also 3 references 4 external links history edit the original location 44th and france or store 101 is located in edina minnesota . 4 caribou coffee founder john puckett was working as a management consultant for boston based firm bain & company helping develop ideas and strategies for other companies when he decided he wanted to become an entrepreneur . after a trip to denali national park in alaska he and his wife kim decided to raise money and start a coffee company . his wife stayed with a job at general mills while john moved to minnesota to find the first site and put together financing . 5 6 7 the initial concept for caribou was a five day a week schedule aimed at downtown office workers mimicking what worked in boston . puckett signed a lease for the first location to be in the large pillsbury center office building . however soon afterward the building s landlord decided not to sign the lease because another of the building s retail tenants had exclusive rights to selling coffee in the building and had threatened to sue them . as a result the financing for the store fell through because it was dependent on that specific site . puckett opted to start looking for an available location in the suburbs and the first caribou coffee shop was started in edina minnesota a suburb of minneapolis in december 1992 . 5 arcapita was caribou coffee s majority shareholder . in 2002 yusuf al qaradawi s involvement 8 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 . 9 in may 2013 caribou coffee announced plans to close 80 stores in ohio michigan pennsylvania washington d.c. maryland virginia georgia illinois and eastern wisconsin with 88 others in those locations to be converted to peet s coffee & tea during 2013 2014 . caribou locations would remain open in minnesota north dakota south dakota western wisconsin iowa kansas north carolina denver and ten international markets . 10 11 in 2015 caribou coffee sued a small family owned restaurant the blue caribou cafe located in beulah michigan alleging that the small local restaurant s use of the word caribou would cause irreparable damage to caribou coffee . the litigation was covered by national news media outlets in 2016 causing public relations problems for caribou coffee . 12 see also edit coffee portal minnesota portal food portal companies portal list of coffeehouse chains references edit company information . cariboucoffee.com . company profile for caribou coffee co inc cbou . retrieved 2008 10 22 . company information . cariboucoffee.com . caribou coffee k cups single cup boxes . kenozacoffee.com . a b john vomhof jr. caribou founder knowing when to leave the corporate world and go into business for yourself minneapolis st. paul business journal july 5 2013 accessed july 8 2013 . chamis eleni april 3 2000 . a new cup o joe . retrieved december 7 2015 . lambrecht claire november 26 2012 . caribou coffee pioneer swaps espresso for pizza . retrieved december 7 2015 . annual report 2000 sheik yusuf al qaradawi theologian of terror affiliations anti defamation league august 1 2005 shirlington caribou coffee to become peet s coffee west end alexandria patch may 7 2013 peet s caribou owner to buy former sara lee coffee business . chicago business journal . apr 12 2013 . retrieved apr 15 2013 . german coffee company crushes american family s dream . fox news . may 24 2016 . retrieved may 25 2016 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to caribou coffee . official website islamic bank is majority owner of the caribou coffee chain . snopes reports on startup problems and funding sources . will caribou s shari ah affect shares . caribou coffee s majority stakeholder arcapita s website displaying all us investments including tensar cypress communications southland log homes church s chicken loehmann s cirrus design and many others . v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter s h agen dazs handel s kiwi yogurt maggiemoo s marble slab menchie s pinkberry red mango rita s sweet frog tastee freez tcby tropical sno tutti frutti yogen fr z yogurtland hot dogs hot dog on a stick nathan s famous portillo s wienerschnitzel mexican style tex mex baja fresh cafe rio chipotle del taco el pollo loco freebirds green red burrito moe s pancheros qdoba rubio s taco bell taco bueno taco cabana taco del mar taco john s taco mayo taco time wahoo s fish taco noodles fazoli s noodles & company sandwiches arby s atlanta bread blimpie capriotti s charley s cos cousins d angelo daphne s erbert & gerbert s firehouse subs great wraps jason s jerry s subs jersey mike s jimmy john s lenny s sub mcalister s deli miami subs mr. hero newk s eatery penn station port of subs pdq potbelly quiznos rax runza sandella s schlotzsky s steak escape subway togo s tubby s tudor s biscuit world which wich seafood arthur treacher s captain d s h. salt esquire ivar s long john silver s skippers seafood & chowder house defunct bresler s ice cream brigham s burger chef carrols d lites druther s henry s hamburgers hot n now hot sam pretzels naugles red barn sandy s zantigo retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title caribou coffee & oldid 743567546 categories companies based in minneapoliseconomy of the midwestern united stateseconomy of the southeastern united statescoffee houses of the united statescompanies established in 1992coffee brandshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameterscommons category with page title same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 06 33 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