Dutch Bros Coffee makes Springfield-area debut

A drive-thru coffee chain founded in Oregon over 30 years ago has made its entry into the Springfield area with two shops opened within less than two weeks of each other.

Dutch Bros Coffee made its Queen City debut on Nov. 7 at 3840 W. Sunshine St. in a west-side retail center in front of Springfield Plaza near the intersection of Sunshine Street and West Bypass. Just over a week later, another Dutch Bros opened Nov. 15 at 606 W. Main St. in Branson, next door to a Whataburger restaurant and nearby the street’s intersection with U.S. Highway 65. Tim Roberts said he is the operator of both shops, which are owned by Dutch Bros Inc. (NYSE: BROS).

“We usually spread them out a little more than that, but I was lucky enough to get two that I’ve got ready to go,” Roberts said of the quick timing between the local openings.

Along with coffee options such as lattes, espressos and cold brew, Dutch Bros’ drink menu includes energy drinks, iced tea, lemonade, shakes, smoothies and sodas. The local stores’ food menu initially just consists of treats such as an orange cranberry muffin top, but Roberts said the company is starting to roll out hot food options in its stores across the country, including a chorizo breakfast burrito and sausage, egg and cheese croissant. He expects those options to be in the Springfield and Branson stores sometime next year.

Dutch Bros had over 1,080 locations in 24 states as of Sept. 30, according to its website. It made its southwest Missouri debut in Joplin in September. The company originated in 1992 in Grants Pass, Oregon, and earlier this year moved its headquarters to Tempe, Arizona.

Roberts said the company promotes from within for those who become operators of its stores. He started as a barista with Dutch Bros in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and then moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where he was a regional manager for the company for over two years before getting promoted to operator in the Springfield and Branson markets.

“This is my dream job. They love promoting from within, so I started about seven years ago just as a barista and just kind of worked my way up,” he said. “I did not have to pay any startup fees, anything like that. The only thing I had to do was get out here and they even pay a relocation bonus to move out here as well.”

Roberts said Dutch Bros still has some existing franchisees but moved away from that business model around eight years ago. He said there’s a qualification process to determine operators, such as hitting certain standards on performance reviews and business metrics.

“You can kind of pick and choose the areas you want to be in, so I was lucky enough to get Springfield and Branson,” he said.

The roughly 1,400-square-foot Springfield store employs nearly 50, while the Branson location’s footprint is slightly smaller at 1,000 square feet, Roberts said. The Branson store, which is a standalone structure, has around 40 employees. He declined to disclose company startup costs.

Roberts said Overland Park, Kansas-based Bear Global Construction was general contractor in Branson and Rockford, Illinois-based RSCC Group was the developer and general contractor for the Springfield location as well as the retail center, which sits on a 1-acre parcel in a Springfield Plaza outlot. Other planned tenants for the 4,500-square-foot retail center include Jersey Mike’s Subs, AT&T and Great Clips, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. Dutch Bros is the first to open in the center. 

Dutch Bros won’t be limited locally to just Springfield and Branson, as an Ozark shop is in the plans, Roberts said. The coffee chain, along with companies including Aldi, McDonald’s, Plaza Tire Service and Casey’s are among tenants on board at the roughly 30-acre Ozark Marketplace, according to past reporting. The development currently under construction is on land just east of U.S. Highway 65 across South Street/Missouri Route 14 from the Ozark Town Center, the site of Walmart, Lowe’s and smaller retailers. 

“I don’t really know anything on the timeline other than it’ll probably be within the next year that we get started on that,” Roberts said of the third Dutch Bros shop he will lead.