Diedrich Coffee Closes, Reopens Three Stores

The company closed the company stores because the locally-based operator wasn't doing a good enough job maintaining and operating them, says Roger "Rocky" Laverty, president and CEO of the chain. The stores weren't franchised, but were being operated under an agreement with a third party, he says.

"We just felt this party, over a variety of issues, was not promoting our brand in the best possible way," Laverty tells GlobeSt.com. "We decided it was to our advantage to take them back into the organization."

Added chief operating officer Pam Britton, "The three coffee houses will be closed for the absolute shortest time possible. They will be reopened when we are satisfied that they have the appropriate coffee inventory, equipment and other standards we require in order to give Diedrich's customers a coffee experience we can all be proud of."

One store, called the Garage at 1200 Clayton St. in the Congress Park neighborhood, reopened Saturday. Another, at 1201 E. 9th Ave., reopened Sunday. The third, in the Petroleum Club in downtown at 110 16 St., is scheduled to open Monday. The downtown store isn't open on weekends.

Laverty says one problem that surfaced in the week or so before closing was that the operator was serving coffee that wasn't from Diedrich.

At one point, when the company was franchising a lot of stores, there were 17 coffee houses in the Denver area. Now there are four, with another one in Aurora, which wasn't part of the closures, as it is operated by a different party.

Laverty says the Denver store have performed well, but he expects them to do even better now that their under control of the home office. He says it's possible that the chain will open more stores in the future.

The chain, which also owns Gloria Jean's Coffee, will open one or more of those locally. It already has some Gloria Jean's in Colorado Springs and soon will open one in the Greeley Mall in northern Colorado, he says.