Peet’s Coffee, the specialty coffee roaster and retailer, will be closing some of its locations in California, including two in Southern California.
Calling the closures a “difficult decision,” a Peet’s spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times in an email that the closures “reflect a broader effort to align our business with long-term growth priorities and current market conditions.”
Many Peet’s Coffee locations in the San Francisco Bay Area are headed for closure, according to the news report. So far there is no indication that the locations on California’s Central Coast will be closing including the locations in Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.
The closures come after Keurig Dr Pepper announced it will buy JDE Peet’s, the parent company of Peet’s Coffee, in an all-cash deal of $18 billion, according to AP News.
After the acquisition closes, Keurig Dr Pepper said it would create two separate, independent, U.S.-listed companies: Beverage Co. and Global Coffee Co.
Peet’s, along with Keurig, Jacobs, and L’OR, will constitute the Global Coffee Co., according to the statement. The entity’s global headquarters will be located in Burlington, Massachusetts, while its international headquarters will be in Amsterdam.
Although the Peet spokesperson did not specify how many stores will be closing, unionized workers said in a social media post that Peet’s Coffee will close 27 of its 283 locations after the Keurig Dr Pepper deal.
Peet had announced that their Telegraph & Dwight location would close by the end of January, according to the Instagram post.
Accusing the Peet’s management of bypassing the union, the workers wrote that the coffee chain failed to honor their legal obligation to bargain over the impacts of closure, and directly informed workers of severance packages without any input from the union.
In an Instagram post on January 30, 2026, the Peet’s labor union said the workers at the closing Telegraph & Dwight location were yet to reach an agreement with the management over the impacts of the closure.
“Peet’s Coffee is attempting to cancel our scheduled bargaining session today (1/30) with short notice. We ask that you call Peet’s and demand that they meet with the union!” the post added.
Union members of some of the closing locations are demanding larger severance packages and transfers to Peet’s locations that have vacancies, according to a news report by KTLA5. Citing a union spokesperson, the news report said nearly 400 employees are expected to be affected by the closures.
In July 2025, JDE Peet said in a statement that the company had posted a strong performance over the past six months amid a “challenging environment that continues to be characterized by persistently high green coffee prices.”
Peet’s Coffee was founded by Alfred Peet, a Dutch immigrant and a German labor-camp survivor who hailed from a family which ran a coffee-roasting business, according to Los Angeles Times.
Peet’s Coffee opened its first location in Berkeley in 1966, inspiring the founders of Starbucks, who opened the first Starbucks location in Seattle some years later.
Peet’s isn’t what it used to be, that’s for sure. Not around here. Our local Peet’s used to be great, but over the decades it’s lost its way – good luck getting a simple, quality cup of coffee. I don’t think the folks working there even know how to brew coffee anymore. It’s all fancy sugary drinks and microwave breakfasts. The market speaks. I wonder if the State St. spot will shut down.
When you have unionized coffee shop workers who demand the ‘living wages’ of skilled professionals this is the predictable outcome.
ZIPS – do you send birthday and Christmas cards to the billionaires you worship so hard? You should! I bet they love all the glazing by the little people like you. Because yeah, f*** people trying make a living and being paid for their experience and talent.
Don’t know much about how M&As work do you.
It does not appear that the unionization of workers at Peet’s has been a success, and quite the opposite. I’ve worked for enough corporations to know that once they start closing branches/units/cells/silos/etc., others are sure to follow. Most Peet’s workers know that working there is not their forever job. Now these workers can start looking for better jobs. Long term, being part of a layoff is not always a bad thing. Being in the heart of the tech industry in Silicon Valley, layoffs simply came with the territory.
Totally. A bunch of poor-effort gets you nowhere, Union or not. They’ll figure it out. SB isn’t a great place to be though if you don’t work hard and take pride in your work. Those who do work hard at whatever job they have can and often prosper.
How in the world do you know what the Peet’s workers are thinking? Sounds like anti-union drivel to me.
Layoffs come with corporate greed, when money is siphoned off from employees and business upgrades and expenses to pay the executive drones.
Or, they’re not providing a good product and folks move on. This isn’t Socialism.