The Freaky Bean Coffee Company

Infobox Company
name = The Freaky Bean Coffee Company

type = Privately held company
genre =
foundation = October 2005 by Andrew Kessler and Jonathan Stratton
founder =
location_city = Westbrook, Maine
location_country = United States
location =
locations = 6
area_served = Southern Maine
key_people = Jonathan Stratton, President
Andrew Kessler, V.P. Creative & E-commerce
Gary Woodworth, V.P. Logistics
industry = Restaurants
Retail Coffee and Tea
Retail Beverages
Entertainment
products = Whole Bean Coffee
Boxed Tea
Made-to-order beverages Bottled beverages
Baked Goods
Merchandise
services =
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
assets =
equity =
owner =
num_employees = 50 (as of March 2008)
parent =
divisions =
subsid = Maine Roasters Coffee
slogan =
homepage = [http://www.freakybean.com Freakybean.com]
footnotes =
intl =

The Freaky Bean Coffee Company is an independent, Maine-based specialty coffee house and roaster, with retail locations, a roasting division, and wholesale accounts. It is the largest independent coffee company in Maine. [ [http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=153264 Grounds for optimism | Portland Press Herald ] ]

The company currently has six retail locations: Westbrook, South Portland, two shops in Scarborough, and subsidiary Maine Roasters Coffee shops in Falmouth and Yarmouth.

As of March 2008, the members of the board of directors are Jonathan Stratton, Andrew Kessler, Gary Woodworth, Jon Ricci, Jim Walsh, Jim Talbot, Jim Mclaughlin, Einar Seadler and Randy Male.

History

The original Freaky Bean shop opened in June of 2006 at the Willowdale Place business complex on Route 1 in Scarborough. [ [http://www.keepmecurrent.com/news/Print.cfm?StoryID=44299 Untitled Document ] ]

The company experienced rapid growth in 2007 and 2008:

* In March 2007, The Freaky Bean was one of 30 companies honored as “outstanding role models of entrepreneurship,” by The Maine Small Business Development Center. [ [http://mainebusiness.mainetoday.com/newsdirect/release.html?id=4082 MaineBusiness.com | Maine News Direct ] ]

* In July 2007, The Freaky Bean opened its second retail location, as well as its headquarters, roasting operations hub and distribution center on Main Street in Westbrook. In addition to being a coffee roastery and distribution center, this location includes a public coffee cupping room.

* In December 2007, the company announced its agreement to purchase Maine Roasters Coffee Company. This purchase included coffee shops located in Yarmouth and Falmouth, as well as Maine Roasters' wholesale business. [ [http://www.mainebiz.biz/daily_stories.html?id=309 Mainebiz - Maine's business news source, in print, online and every business day ] ]

* In May 2008, The Freaky Bean opened its fifth retail location at the newly-constructed Scarborough Gateway shopping complex. This complex is anchored by national sporting goods retailer Cabela's. [ [http://mainebusiness.mainetoday.com/newsdirect/release.html?id=4940 MaineBusiness.com | Maine News Direct ] ] That same month, The Freaky Bean was selected as the Official Coffee of The American Pavilion of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. As a result of this selection, Freaky Bean would be the only coffee available at the Pavilion.

* In July 2008, the company opened its sixth retail location on Broadway in South Portland. This location is the first drive-thru shop for The Freaky Bean. [ [http://www.accionusa.org/site/c.lvKVL9MUIsG/b.3509141/k.6A7E/Coffee_house_stays_grounded_in_rapid_expansion.htm Coffee house stays grounded in rapid expansion - Accion USA ] ]

Products

The Freaky Bean serves a variety of coffee-based drinks as well hot chocolate and organic teas, along with their version of a blended iced coffee drink, the Freakazoid.

Name

The company's name was whittled down from about 400 names. Some of the previous choices from the list were Dirigo Coffee, Sublime Coffee, and Waxing Poetic.

The folk tale that has been spread about the origin of company's name states that it was created when Jon Stratton's wife had an epiphany while taking a shower. She leaned out of the shower and yelled, "Call it the Freaky Bean!" to Jon.

Logo

The Freaky Bean's round logo is based upon a statue found at the Mayan temples in Central America. Designed by Arielle Walrath, a local Maine designer and illustrator [ [http://www.ariellewalrath.com/view.php?piece=freakyIdentity&category=identity arielle walrath: freelance design & illustration: portfolio of work ] ] , the stone statue's design was illustrated to show the Mayan character juggling a coffee cup, a coffee bean, and a muffin.

A second logo was created for use use in smaller spaces: it consists of the company's name, with a coffee cup in the middle with steam emanating from it.

Both logos are used interchangeably within the company's stores, literature and branding.

References