Starbucks vs Coffee Bean vs Caribou: PR Compared in 2026
Starbucks, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Caribou Coffee run three different PR models because each one sells a different story. Starbucks communicates through turnaround: in September 2026 it announced 250 more North American store closures, its second large round under CEO Brian Niccol. Coffee Bean communicates through ownership, after Jollibee agreed to pay $350 million for it in 2019. Caribou communicates through format, built around its drive-thru-only Cabin.
How do Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Caribou compare?
The three chains differ most in who owns them and what story that ownership forces them to tell. The table uses the most recent sourced figure for each chain, and the Coffee Bean row is dated to the 2019 sale.
Chain
Owner
Scale in sourced data
Main PR story
Starbucks
Public company
18,371 North American stores at the end of June 2026
Turnaround, closures and an unsettled union
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Jollibee Foods, 80% of the holding company at the 2019 deal
1,189 locations in 2019, 284 in the US, nearly three-quarters franchised
Starbucks uses store closures and store redesign as its main communications story in 2026. Chief operating officer Mike Grams told employees that the targeted stores either were not delivering acceptable financial results or could not provide the experience Starbucks wants, per the AP report. The prior round, in September 2025, closed 627 stores across North America and Europe.
The company pairs each closure with an investment message. Starbucks expected 1,500 stores to be retrofitted by September 30, the end of its fiscal year, and says it remains committed to growing its North American store count.
The union is the unresolved part. Starbucks Workers United says it represents workers at about 700 company-owned US stores that voted to unionize, and says 20 of them are among the 250 closures, or 8 percent. The company and the union have not reached a labor agreement since stores began voting in late 2021. In 2025 a Starbucks spokesperson said union status was not a factor in closure decisions. EPR's Starbucks hub covers the longer history.
How did Starbucks handle Race Together and the Philadelphia arrests?
Starbucks handled the 2018 Philadelphia arrests with a remedy sized to the failure, which Race Together in 2015 never had. Race Together asked baristas to write the phrase on cups. Then-CEO Howard Schultz later called it a well-intentioned mistake, as the AP recounted in 2018.
Two Black men were arrested at a Philadelphia store on April 12, 2018. On April 17, CEO Kevin Johnson announced that more than 8,000 company-owned US stores would close on the afternoon of May 29 so that about 175,000 workers could take racial-bias training, Colorlines reported. Anadolu Agency reported that the shares were down 1.4 percent that afternoon, erasing about $1.1 billion of market value.
The cost was the point. Starbucks accepted a visible loss, and that gave the apology evidence. EPR's crisis PR guide covers the general method, and the Bud Light lessons page shows a case where the response did not match the failure.
What is The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's PR strategy?
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's PR strategy is driven by its owner, Jollibee Foods, whose stated priority is growing the brand in Asia. Jollibee agreed on July 24, 2019 to buy the brand for $350 million. It invested $100 million for 80 percent of a Singapore holding company, Java Ventures, and advanced another $250 million, part of which paid down Coffee Bean's debt.
The brand was founded in 1963 and had 1,189 locations at the time of the deal, with 284 in the US. Coffee Bean reported 2018 revenue of $313 million and a net loss of $21 million, according to QSR Magazine. The public record since the deal is thin on US communications campaigns, so this section rests on the deal terms.
What is Caribou Coffee's PR strategy?
Caribou Coffee's PR strategy rests on proving a format, the drive-thru-only Cabin, after a takeover that damaged its footprint. JAB bought Caribou in 2012 for $340 million, and months later the chain closed 80 locations and converted 88 to Peet's.
The Cabin arrived in 2019 as a roughly 600-square-foot drive-thru with a walk-up window and no indoor seating, QSR Magazine reported. CEO John Butcher told Restaurant Business that drive-thru times at the Cabins run a full minute faster than at traditional stores. That is the operating metric the CEO cites for the format, and it carries the story.
The rollout has not been smooth. Caribou closed its Ferndale and Allen Park, Michigan shops on March 24, 2026, Deadline Detroit reported.
What can brand teams learn from the three chains?
Each chain shows a different communications job, and each job has a dated record behind it.
Chain
Communications job
Evidence
Action for a brand team
Starbucks
Explain cuts as part of a plan
250 closures announced alongside 1,500 retrofits
Pair every closure with the investment it funds
Starbucks
Match the remedy to the failure
8,000-store training day, $1.1 billion of market value erased that afternoon
Decide what loss you will accept before you apologize
Jollibee Foods Corporation owns The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf through a Singapore holding company, after agreeing to a $350 million purchase in July 2019.
Who owns Caribou Coffee?
JAB Holding Company owns Caribou Coffee. JAB acquired the chain in 2012 for $340 million and also owns Panera Bread and Einstein Bros. Bagels.
How many stores does Starbucks have in North America?
Starbucks had 18,371 stores in North America at the end of June 2026, according to the AP report on its September 2026 closures.
What was the Starbucks Race Together campaign?
Race Together was a 2015 Starbucks campaign that encouraged baristas to write the phrase on cups to start conversations about race. Racial justice experts criticized it quickly, and Howard Schultz later called it a well-intentioned mistake.
What should a PR team do with this comparison?
Write down what your brand's main story is, who owns it, and what one operating number proves it. Starbucks leads with a plan, Coffee Bean with an owner, and Caribou with a minute saved at the window. A brand that cannot name its equivalent will have its story told by closures, ownership changes or the next crisis.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
