Biggby Coffee (pronounced "big B") is an American

coffeehouse A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

franchise based in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County, Michigan, Eaton County and nort ...

, United States. It was founded in 1995 in the city of

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 47,741. The city is located immediate ...

, by Bob Fish and Mary Roszel as Beaner's Coffee. By the end of the 1990s, the company had three locations in Lansing, and began to expand during the 21st century by means of franchising. Between 2007 and 2008, the chain was officially renamed Biggby Coffee due to corporate concerns over the meaning of the word "

beaner ''Beaner'' is a derogatory slur originally from the United States to refer to individuals from Mexico or of Mexican American heritage. It originates from the bean being a staple ingredient in Mexican cuisine, such as Salsa Verde Soup or Bean ...

"; the name Biggby was derived from the letter B in the company's logo. As of mid-2024, the chain had over 390 locations throughout the United States.

History

Co-founders Bob Fish and Mary Roszel met while attending hospitality courses at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

, and first worked together as managers of a

-based restaurant chain known as the Flap Jack. The first location opened in April 1995 on Grand River Avenue in

, in a building previously occupied by an

Arby's Arby's is an American fast-food restaurant, fast food sandwich restaurant chain with more than 3,300 restaurants. The flagship property of Inspire Brands, it ranked third in systemwide sales in the United States in the quick-service and fast-ca ...

. Due to the success of the initial location, Fish and Roszel opened a second location in downtown

, in 1997. One year later, they also opened a corporate office in Lansing, allowing for sales of bulk coffee and coffee preparation. Fish, Roszel, and Michael McFall (who was originally hired by Roszel as a

barista A barista ( , ; ) is a person, usually a coffeehouse employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks and other beverages. Etymology and inflection The word comes from Italian, where it means a "bartender" who typically works be ...

in the first store) decided to franchise the company and founded Global Orange Development, LLC in June 1998. A third location opened in August 1999, also located on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing about east of the first. In the following four years, nine more locations were opened throughout

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. In late 2007, Fish announced that the chain would officially be renamed Biggby Coffee by January 2008. This decision was made due to concerns over the word "

" being a derogatory slang term for

Mexican people Mexicans () are the citizens and nationals of the Mexico, United Mexican States. The Mexican people have varied origins with the most spoken language being Spanish language, Spanish, but many also speak languages from 68 different Languages o ...

. Company representatives conducted brand research for a year prior to this change, and chose the name Biggby Coffee due to the "big B" in the company's logo. In July 2011, the company officially released a "new store footprint" that reduced the cost of opening a franchise location by approximately 40 percent. In September 2011, Biggby Coffee was the fastest-growing coffee chain in America by

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

, which ranked the company number one based on their growth percentage from the previous year. In August 2012, Roszel retired from the company after 17 years. Roszel was inducted by her Alma mater into Michigan State University's School of Hospitality Business Hall of Fame for her success with Biggby Coffee.

References

External links

* *Franchis
Website
{{Central Michigan 1995 establishments in Michigan Coffeehouses and cafés in the United States Companies based in Lansing, Michigan Economy of the Midwestern United States Economy of the Southeastern United States Fast-food chains of the United States Fast-food franchises Privately held companies based in Michigan Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1995