QSR May 2023

EMERGING BRANDS

new mandates that would’ve required $150,000 worth of invest ment. The two were hardly paying the bills as it was. When it came time to sell the herd, Dane was left at a cross roads. He earned in the neighborhood of $50,000 to $60,000 from the sale and lived a frugal life, but he wanted to make sure his kids could get Air Jordans or make trips to Disneyland. Dane considered getting a job at Walmart or West Coast-based gro cery chain, Fred Meyer. “I was like, ‘Hold up. What? You can’t go do that,’” Trav says. “‘I mean we’ve had all these ideas man. I mean we should at least explore one of them, see what happens.’” At the time, Trav routinely drank vanilla lattes and sug gested they open an espresso cart. To which Dane responded, “what’s an espresso?” So Trav took him to a local drive-thru called Western Expresso, run by a “hokey, but super smiley” woman who was barefoot and knew customers by name. Dane received his drink first, and Trav couldn’t have asked for a better reaction. “I look over and he’s licking the milk foam off,” Trav says. “This is unbelievable. I’m like, ‘That’s what I’m talking about dude.’ And so I got mine and we started talking about it. We just dove in.” In search of an equipment supplier, the brothers drove through the I-5 corridor jamming to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Chicago. They stopped in Portland to meet with Boyd’s Coffee, but the pitch sounded too similar

to a used car salesman. Trav and Dane then met with a com pany in Seattle that showed promise, but the true prize came in Eugene, Oregon, when they met Paul Leighton—a future men tor and friend. He taught the brothers how to pull shots, steam milk, and make cappuccinos, and provided them with several coffee varietals to play with. Now fully supplied, they invited friends and family to serve as guinea pigs for their budding espresso business. “It was some of the best times ever as I look back on them, man,” Trav says. At this point, Dane’s expertise became paramount. He owned a Dairy Queen franchise at 22 years old and understood the importance of speed, simplicity, and how to put together a menu. Perfecting the mocha was crucial. It was the early 90s and espresso was not well known, especially not in Grants Pass, Oregon, where the two were looking to plant their first flag. They were tasked with educating others. The siblings tested Mrs. Richardson’s Hot Fudge, Nestlé Quik, Hersey’s syrup, and Guittard Chocolate—everything one could imagine, Trav says. They settled on chocolate milk from down the street, and it proved to be the game-changer. “We thought, well, this is a slam dunk,” Trav says. “It’s going to be easy.” The menu began with a Double Dutch Mocha and Single Dutch Mocha. The price was $1.25 for an 8-ounce drink and $1.75 for 12 ounces. Following the lead of other coffee carts,

DUTCH BROS WINS WITH AN INDUSTRY-BEST TURNOVER RATE.

DUTCH BROS

34

MAY 2023 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com