Two Dairy Farmers, a $12,000 Cart, and a $6 Billion Coffee Chain

Grants Pass, Oregon · 1992

Dane and Travis Boersma were dairy farmers in Grants Pass, Oregon. When the family farm was lost in the early 1990s, they spent what they had left on an espresso machine and a pushcart, and opened for business next to the railroad tracks.

They spent the last of their money on an espresso machine and a pushcart.

In 1992 the brothers opened their first cart near the railroad tracks in downtown Grants Pass. Each took a small daily salary and put the rest of the revenue back into the business.

They grew to five carts, then bought their first drive-through location in 1994.

In 2004 the company's roasting warehouse was destroyed in a fire, and Dane was diagnosed with ALS.

In 2008 Travis made a decision that still defines the company: stop selling franchises to outsiders. Only employees who had worked in a shop for at least three years could open a new one. Dane passed away in 2009.

The company kept growing from within, opening hundreds of shops across the western United States, built around the employee experience and local community.

In 2021 Dutch Bros went public on the New York Stock Exchange at a market value of roughly $6 billion, with 471 shops in 11 states and about $498 million in revenue that year.

By early 2025 it had opened its 1,000th shop, with a stated goal of 2,029 shops by 2029.

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