Others aren't sold on what public ownership will mean to a company that the Specialty Coffee Association of America credits with some of the highest standards in the business. Master roaster John Weaver doesn't use computers to gauge his craft because too many factors could alter the process, like a hot day, or fog rolling in over San Francisco Bay. That tradition is now at stake, some say. Mass appeal could lead to similarly unappetizing changes, Peet's customers said. Starbucks won't comment about Peet's, but its quality manager, Scott McMartin, says his company's standards for quality and freshness are among the most stringent in the industry.
Many regulars know the two companies share a history.
Peet's chairman Jerry Baldwin started Starbucks in Seattle in 1971, but sold the company years before it went public. Since then, Starbucks has grown from one shop in Seattle's Pike Place Market into virtual ubiquity in shopping malls and airports across the country. Peet's has remained relatively svelte. It recently expanded to the Chicago and Boston areas, reaching for the first time beyond the West Coast. But Peet's financial books show trouble.