Blue Bottle Coffee

History

W. James Freeman founded Blue Bottle Coffee in the early 2000s in Oakland's Temescal District, borrowing the name from one of Europe's first cafés, The Blue Bottle Coffee House. He initially intended to roast coffee in small batches of six pounds per roast and sell it within 24 hours as a home-delivery service, but soon ceased deliveries and opened a traditional café. The company expanded to additional locations in San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area, and opened its first New York location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2010.

Company-owned stores carry off-menu items such as the "Gibraltar," a form of cortado. In 2012, Blue Bottle received $20 million in venture capital investment led by True Ventures. It raised $25.75 million in a new funding round in January 2014, and $70 million from investors led by Fidelity in 2015. As of 2017, the company had raised $120 million from investors since its inception.

In February 2015, Blue Bottle opened its first Tokyo location in the Kiyosumi neighborhood. In September 2017, Nestlé acquired a 68 percent majority stake; the Financial Times reported Nestlé paid up to $500 million for the stake. Blue Bottle expected to increase sales by 70% in 2017. In May 2019, it opened its first location in Seoul, South Korea.

In December 2019, Blue Bottle announced it would test eliminating disposable cups at some shops to pursue zero waste within one year; nothing has been reported to date about this test and whether it was successful. In April 2020, it opened its first location in Central, Hong Kong, operating daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for takeaway only during the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2022, it opened its first mainland China location, Yutong Cafe, in a historic building by Suzhou Creek in downtown Shanghai.

In August 2024, Blue Bottle opened a gift-centric store in Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore; in April 2025, this location was converted to a café and became the company's first location in South East Asia. It opened its second Singapore store at Paragon in July 2025. In December 2025, it was reported that Nestlé was considering selling Blue Bottle. In March 2026, Centurium Capital reached an agreement with Nestlé to acquire Blue Bottle Coffee; at the time, Blue Bottle was operating at a loss.

Labor relations

In April 2024, Blue Bottle Coffee's Boston area locations filed to unionize, citing grievances including not being paid a living wage, mishandling of sexual harassment, and lack of input into café operations. The union requested voluntary recognition, and when Blue Bottle refused, workers engaged in a state-wide walkout. In September 2024, the company fired union organizer Remy Roskin. In May 2025, the Blue Bottle Independent Union (BBIU) conducted another state-wide walkout in the greater Boston area, protesting alleged unfair labor practices including attempted installation of surveillance cameras.

On June 17, 2025, four East Bay area cafés in Berkeley, Old Oakland, Piedmont, and W.C. Morse announced intent to join BBIU. The next day, Blue Bottle terminated union organizer BB Young, which BBIU alleged was illegal retaliation. On July 31, the four East Bay locations won recognition through an NLRB election with 225 votes, unionizing nearly 12 percent of U.S. Blue Bottle locations. In November 2025, roughly 80 Boston workers and 35 California workers went on strike ahead of Thanksgiving weekend, accusing the company of negotiating in bad faith.