There are many ways a retailer or service provider can define success in their business: financial growth and independence, loyal and happy customers, loyal and happy employees, respect from the community, reverence within their industry. It’s rare that an individual achieves all these things. Alfred H. Peet was one such individual.
Long before Seattle assumed the title of coffee capital of the world, Alfred Peet started roasting, grinding, and brewing coffee in a small shop in Berkeley, California. Mr. Peet grew up in the family's coffee and tea business in Alkmaar, Holland. After World War II, he worked in the Indonesian tea trade. At age thirty-five, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and opened his shop in 1966, roasting coffee in the distinctive style he learned from his family.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Peet's Coffee & Tea was a pioneer among other food purveyors in Berkeley's "gourmet ghetto". Today, Peet’s continues to maintain the traditional values that are essential to creating coffees of distinction: hard work and attention to detail. Berkeley is still home to Peet’s, but they now have shops throughout the country. In addition, Peet’s coffees and teas are available at peets.com, through mail order, specialty food and grocery stores, offices, fine restaurants and hotels. Chances are, if you’re a coffee drinker, at some point you’ve sipped a cup of Peet’s.
On August 29, 2007, Alfred Peet passed away, leaving behind a legacy that many can only dream of. The man’s impact on the lives of those he touched is evident from a unique memorial his employees have constructed. On the website for Peet’s Coffee & Tea you’ll find a memorial blog where customers and employees alike have shared their thoughts and memories of what Alfred Peet and his vision and values mean to them. As one reads the kind words that have been written – some of them very moving – it reminds us that true success shines from within us, and is reflected back by the people we serve.
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