Boyd Coffee in Portland (established 1900) and their long-time rival Farmer Brothers (established 1912), Boyd at its height supplied nearly 6,000 restaurants, hotels, stores and offices, but diners were their cash cow. If they suppled the coffee service, it was a simple sell to offer all the spices (thyme, sage, rosemary, pepper, garlic salt, etc.). Next, they offered things like soup mixes (New England clam chowder, barley vegetable, Italian tomato, split-pea, etc.). After that they promoted things like freeze-dried potato flakes, instant hollandaise sauce, nacho mix, pancake mix, sauces, gravies, desserts, and salad dressings.
However, as times changed the Mom-and Pop diners gave way to the chain restaurants that relied on mega-distribution companies (think SYSCO!) and their business contracted. At the same time, they failed to expand their coffee market and were caught flat-footed by the rise of the retail gourmet coffee shops.
They tried to compete with by opening Red Wagon coffee shops (named for the color of their trucks), but retail wasn't their talent. They really just wanted to do what they did best - roast coffee and deliver it to a restaurant or an office coffee service.
They had an opportunity to go head-to-head with Starbucks and flat decided not to go in that direction, instead they closed their brick-and-mortar stores and went mobile food truck style. With revenues dropping, in 2017 Boyd Coffee was bought out by…wait for it…longtime rival Farmer Brothers.
In 2018 the Portland facilities were shut down and operations moved to the Farmer Brothers' facility in Texas. Back in the day Boyd liked panel trucks, but later changed to vans:
Steve used to have a couple blogs, but he never had the time to add more posts. That's a damn shame, as he does incredible research and fills you in on everything about a subject.
Great post!
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