Thomas Aloysius Keller is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997. The restaurant was a perennial winner in the annual Restaurant list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World; the voting process has since been changed to disallow previous winners from being considered.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters is a coffee roaster and retailer based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The chain's flagship café and roastery opened in 1999. Three other cafes, a roastery and a tasting annex have since opened in Portland, as well as locations in Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles,. Stumptown is owned by Peet's Coffee, which in turn is owned by JAB Holding Company. The company was an early innovator with cold brew coffee in nitro cans and have continued to develop other cold brew product innovations.
Van Houtte Inc. is a company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that processes, distributes and sells coffee and coffee related goods. They have expanded their product selection, which now includes tropical teas, sandwiches and salads. It was founded by Albert-Louis Van Houtte.
Elizabeth Falkner is an American chef and restaurateur. She has appeared as a competitor and a judge on reality television cooking competitions, and she is a Top Chef television series alum.
Intelligentsia Coffee is an American coffee roasting company and retailer based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1995 by Doug Zell and Emily Mange, Intelligentsia is considered a major representative of third wave coffee. In 2015, Peet's Coffee & Tea acquired a majority stake in the company.
Jill Davie is an American chef. She is the chef-owner of the Mar Vista in Los Angeles, California.
Third-wave coffee is a movement in coffee marketing emphasizing high quality. Beans are typically sourced from individual farms and are roasted more lightly to bring out their distinctive flavors. Though the term was coined in 1999, the approach originated in the 1970s, with roasters such as the Coffee Connection.
David Kinch is an American chef and restaurateur. He owned and operated Manresa, a restaurant in Los Gatos, California, which was awarded three Michelin stars in 2016. Kinch's California cuisine has strong French, Catalan and Japanese influences. Kinch opened a second restaurant in Los Gatos, called The Bywater, on January 12, 2016.
Blue Bottle Coffee, Inc., is a coffee roaster and retailer once headquartered in Oakland, California, United States. In 2017, a majority stake in the company was acquired by Nestlé (68%). It is a major player in third wave coffee. The company focuses on single-origin beans.
Seattle is regarded as a world center for coffee roasting and coffee supply chain management. Related to this, many of the city's inhabitants are coffee enthusiasts; the city is known for its prominent coffee culture and numerous coffeehouses.
Tazza D'Oro is a café and espresso bar located in Pittsburgh. The name means "Golden Cup/Mug" in Italian. The main location is in Highland Park neighborhood, where it has become a centerpiece of neighborhood There is a second location in the Gates and Hillman Centers at Carnegie Mellon University.
Dennis Leary is a restaurateur and chef based in San Francisco, California. Leary owns and operates six food and beverage businesses in the San Francisco area, along with a forty-acre farm in Capay Valley called Andromeda Farm. The six restaurants include Rx, Café Terminus, Natoma Cabana, Golden West, House of Shields, and the Sentinel.
La Colombe Coffee Roasters is an American coffee roaster and retailer headquartered in Philadelphia. Founded in 1994, the company has cafés in locations including Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Boston, and Washington D.C. In 2023, it was acquired by Chobani for $900 million.
Starbucks Reserve is a program by the international coffeehouse chain Starbucks. The program involves operation of worldwide roasteries; currently seven are in operation. Also part of the program are 28 coffee bars preparing Starbucks Reserve products, what Starbucks considers its rarest and best-quality coffees, usually single-origin coffees. Some Starbucks Reserve coffee is also sold in about 1,500 of the chain's traditional outlets.
Alvin Cailan is an American chef, author, and television host. He is the host of First We Feast’s The Burger Show which airs on YouTube and Hulu. Cailan launched Eggslut, a food truck that specialized in egg sandwiches. The food truck quickly became popular and often had waits that stretched to two hours long. Eggslut has brick-and-mortar locations, including at Los Angeles' Grand Central Market and Venice, Glendale, and Las Vegas. Cailan was named the head chef of Umami Burger in 2021.
Victrola Coffee Roasters is a coffee roasting company with multiple locations in Seattle, Washington.
Case Study Coffee Roasters is a coffee company with multiple locations in Portland, Oregon.
Water Avenue Coffee is a coffee "micro-roaster" with multiple locations in Portland, Oregon. Matt Milletto is a co-owner.
