Biggby Coffee

History

Co-founders Bob Fish and Mary Roszel met while attending hospitality courses at Michigan State University and first worked together as managers of a Lansing-based restaurant chain known as the Flap Jack. The first location opened in April 1995 on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing, in a building previously occupied by an Arby's. Due to the success of the initial location, Fish and Roszel opened a second location in downtown Lansing in 1997. One year later, they opened a corporate office in Lansing, allowing for sales of bulk coffee and coffee preparation.

Fish, Roszel, and Michael McFall—who was originally hired by Roszel as a barista in the first store—decided to franchise the company and founded Global Orange Development, LLC in June 1998. A third location opened in August 1999, also on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing about two miles east of the first. In the following four years, nine more locations were opened throughout Michigan and Ohio. In late 2007, Fish announced that the chain would officially be renamed Biggby Coffee by January 2008, due to concerns over the word "beaner" being a derogatory slang term for Mexican people.

Company representatives conducted brand research for a year prior to this change and chose the name Biggby Coffee due to the "big B" in the company's logo. In July 2011, the company released a "new store footprint" that reduced the cost of opening a franchise location by approximately 40 percent. In September 2011, Biggby Coffee was the fastest-growing coffee chain in America by CNBC, which ranked the company number one based on their growth percentage from the previous year.

In August 2012, Roszel retired from the company after 17 years. Roszel was inducted by her alma mater into Michigan State University's School of Hospitality Business Hall of Fame for her success with Biggby Coffee.