Dutch Bros., the fast-growing coffee chain with locations throughout the country, is exploring a new site in St. Augustine at Florida 16 and County Road 208.
The company submitted a pre-application at the beginning of the month to become a new tenant at Elevation Pointe in St. Johns County, according to Jacksonville Daily Record. While a lease has yet to be officially signed, this proves the Oregon-based coffee chain continues to be interested in Northeast Florida, previously announcing four other locations in the works in the greater Jacksonville area. The pre-application describes the project as a 950-square-foot building with only a drive-thru and outdoor dining.
A few months ago, the company announced it was rethinking its ongoing growth plan due to rising build-out costs. The brand’s infill rate is twice as high this year compared to 2022, according to QSR. Going forward, the chain plans to spread out stores and adjust its pace of infilling new markets. The altered growth method doesn’t impact Dutch Bros’ prior targets of mid-teens annual growth in 2024 and the years beyond. On top of restrategizing its growth plan, Dutch Bros. recently announced CEO Joth Ricci will be stepping down, with President Christine Barone taking his place at the beginning of next year.
“We purposely built a robust pipeline, providing us the flexibility to be selective,” Barone said during the company’s Q2 earnings call this year. “A refined real estate strategy allows us to continue to live up to our commitment of building the right shops at the right time and expanding our footprint at the right pace on our path to 4,000 shops. We believe this [updated growth strategy] will provide markets time to curate demand while balancing the benefits of overhead leverage and distribution efficiency that comes with market density. We expect to see this work impact site build beginning in late 2024.”
