The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Type	Private
Industry	Restaurants Retail coffee and tea
Founded	Los Angeles, California (1963)
Founder(s)	Herbert B. Hyman[1]
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, United States
Key people	Sunny Sassoon, Chairman Melvin Elias, CEO Bob Kaufman, VP of Business Development Mark Lindstrom, VP of Operations Terry Mansky, Chief Administrative Officer, Senior Vice President and General Counsel Paul Balzer, VP of Supply Chain Coralie Calvet Lewis, VP of Finance num_employees = 4,400 (2007)
Products	Whole bean coffee Boxed tea Made-to-order beverages Baked goods Merchandise
Revenue	$130.1 million USD (2007)
Parent	International Coffee & Tea, LLC
Website	coffeebean.com

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (sometimes shortened to simply "The Coffee Bean" or "Coffee Bean") is a Los Angeles, California-based coffee chain, owned and operated by International Coffee & Tea, LLC. The first Coffee Bean opened in September 1963. The chain has over 750 locations in 22 countries.^{[citation needed]} Within the United States, The Coffee Bean has locations in San Francisco, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Texas, Alabama, Miami, Detroit, and as of 8/30/2011 New York City. The majority of locations are in Southern California, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura. Many locations outside of California are franchises, such as Hawaii. Singaporean entrepreneur Victor Sassoon has opened locations throughout Southeast Asia.

Free Wi-Fi access is offered at most locations. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is an international chain with locations in Australia, Brunei, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, South Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Cambodia and Vietnam ^[2].

Several Southern California Ralphs supermarkets have full-service The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf kiosks in their stores.

History

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf headquarters in Los Angeles, California

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was founded by Mona and Herbert Hyman in September 1963. They opened the first store in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood. This original location still exists and operates today. The firm is affectionately known as The Bean among long-time customers that include many Hollywood celebrities, and was touted as a success model for the coffee and tea business in its early days.

But it was Singapore entrepreneur Victor Sasson and his family, which included brother Sunny, wife Michelle Elias and her brother Mel Elias, that really took the company global. In 1996, Mr Sassoon bought the franchise rights for Asia and in just two years, opened 29 outlets in Singapore and Malaysia - almost as many as the Hymans had opened in the US up until then. Two years later, Mr Sassoon bought up the entire Los Angeles-based firm and the rest, as they say, is history. Now, over 45 years later, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® has grown into one of the largest privately-owned, family-run coffee and tea companies in the world. Along the way, The Bean, as it is affectionately known, has become the model for a successful coffee and tea company.

Since 1963, they have continued to search the earth for only the finest and rarest loose-leaf teas and premium coffees. Today they proudly offer over 22 varieties of coffee and 20 kinds of tea. Over the years, they have worked hard to build relationships with individual farms and estates so that they can be assured of the best coffee and tea harvests available. Their coffee is roasted fresh daily in small batches in a manual European roast style, then packed using state-of-the-art equipment for shipment in their own roasting facility and delivered fresh daily to their stores.

Halal and kosher

All of the products at The Coffee Bean are certified as kosher. At least one location meets the higher standard of cholov yisroel in their dairy products. Coffee Bean has fared well in its entry into the Israeli coffee chain market. This may be attributed to its kosher food selection. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's beverages are also halal.^[3]

Charity

Support from Home

In 2008, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf launched its "Support from Home" campaign, an event that has continued into 2011. Consumers were invited to purchase a bag of coffee, a tin of tea and/or retail merchandise to donate to U.S. troops overseas. During the campaign, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf also offered a "Support from Home" limited edition blend of coffee. The packaged coffee was designed with a special back label created to allow consumers to write a personalized message to soldiers. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf worked in conjunction with an organization called Soldiers' Angels to provide the product donations. They also donated a portion of the proceeds from the "Support from Home" blend to the Fisher House, an organization that acts as a "home away from home" for families of military personnel and veterans receiving medical care at major medical facilities. In total, Coffee Bean customers donated more than 18,000 pounds of coffee to military personnel.

Holiday open house

In 2008, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf held a holiday open house at all company-owned locations in California and Arizona. Customers were treated to 12 oz holiday beverages. The event was three hours long, during which time 35,000 drinks were given away.

The event also helped to raise $30,000 for The Help Group, a Los Angeles-based charity serving special needs youth, through Coffee Bean's "Deck The Walls" campaign. This campaign provided consumers with the opportunity to select and sign holiday-themed cards in exchange for a $1 donation to The Help Group.

Ice Blended

In 1989, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf launched their The Original Ice Blended drink. Worldwide, over 20,000 Ice Blended drinks are served daily and over 7 million annually.

Holiday drinks

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Los Feliz, California

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has several holiday drinks:

• Red Velvet hot cocoa
• Peppermint:Mocha,Vanilla, White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Latte and Ice Blended
• Gingerbread Latte and Ice Blended
• Pumpkin Latte and Ice Blended
• Salted Caramel or Cinnamon Mocha Cappacino

They also offer a limited edition Holiday Blend coffee and Winter Dream tea.

"Mayfield v. International Coffee & Tea, LLC"

Mayfield v. International Coffee & Tea, LLC is a pending class action settlement for owed wages and/or other compensations for missed meal periods, plus related penalties for any non-exempt hourly store-based employees in the state of California between August 28, 2004, and April 22, 2010. A hearing was to be held on September 21, 2010, to determine whether the settlement should be granted final approval.

References

1. ^ "Our Heritage". The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. http://coffeebean.com/Our-Heritage-W69C30.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-14. 
2. ^ coffeebean.com
3. ^ BruneiDirect.Com

• BruneiDirect.Com Coffee Bean drinks are halal. Retrieved on July 1, 2008.
• coffeebean.com. International Franchise Locations
• Coffeebeanhawaii.com. Hawaii Franchise Website
• internationalcoffeeandtea.simpluris.net [1]

External links

• Locations Domestically of CBTL
• Senior Management of CBTL
• Culture of CBTL
• Official website of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
• The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Media Queries
• Company profile on Yahoo! Finance
• Hawaii Franchise Website
• "The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Donates for the Troops"
• "Coffee's trained tasters know their beans and brews"