Coffeehouse pioneer Alfred Peet dies at 87

Nation's Restaurant News,  Sept 10, 2007  

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ASHLAND, ORE. -- Coffee roasting pioneer Alfred Peet, founder of 136-store Peet's Coffee & Tea, died at his home here Aug. 29. He was 87. The Emeryville, Calif.-based company did not disclose a cause.

Peet's original coffeehouse in Berkeley, Calif., which he opened in 1966, is credited as a role model for

Starbucks Coffee and as the 1971 source of the beans used by the then-fledgling Seattle operation. Starbucks co-founder Jerry Baldwin, a member of Peet's board of directors, was quoted as saying that Peet had been amazed by the lack of high-quality coffee when the Dutch native moved to San Francisco in 1955.

"I came to the richest country in the world, so why are they drinking the lousiest coffee?" Peet, who retired in 1983, is said to have asked.

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