Dutch Bros Seeks More Morning Business, Interest in Its Walk-Up Window via Mobile Orders

While Dutch Bros may be more famous for its mid-day espressos, energy drinks, and snacks, the coffee chain has recently revealed a pivot it would like to make, as Restaurant Business detailed.

Seeking to take a slice out of a segment previously dominated by other morning-focused coffee brands like Dunkin’ (and to some extent, Starbucks), Dutch Bros leadership has signaled a renewed focus on capturing some lost opportunity regarding the early hours of operation.

“There’s probably a beverage occasion we’re missing in the morning,” CEO Christine Barone said during remarks made at the recent ICR conference. “We will always be a beverage company. The goal of food is really to capture that extra beverage occasion, because in the morning a lot of us don’t want to go to two places as we’re on our way to work.”

Dutch Bros Focuses on Afternoon, Evening Sales: Wants To Inspire Traffic to Walk-Up Window

Dutch Bros has established a name for itself as a premier coffee shop, largely anchored around the attentive customer experience and quality drinks at affordable prices. However, without serving drip coffee, those headed to work during the dawning hours may decide to skip the chain in favor of those more well-known for servicing the morning shift.

“Our business is a little bit unique, in that a third of the business is in the morning, a third of the business is in midday, and a third of the business is in the afternoon,” Barone said.

Part of addressing this issue is by opening more shops; morning commuters don’t exactly have a surplus of time, and so having a Dutch Bros along — or at least, near — the planned route to the office could be a make-or-break moment. This is why the coffee chain has pursued an extensive and aggressive expansion plan, opening over 150 locations since the end of 2023.

Having only added mobile order and pay last year last quarter — certainly, a bit later than many competitors — could be seen as a previous headwind, not only during the morning hours but throughout the day.

And mobile orders may account for an uptick in business attracted to the company’s signature walk-up windows, which previously only accounted for 10% of traffic.

“More [mobile] customers choose to pick up their order at that walk-up window,” Barone said. “It’s really shifting that production to the walk-up window, and then taking some cars out of the line, which gives other customers confidence to join the line.”

In sum, it seems Dutch Bros. appears poised to capitalize on all three of these apparent opportunities. Investors may have taken notice.

Investor Confidence High on Dutch Bros

Tripp Westbrook, writing for Entrepreneur, gave praise to Dutch Bros for its commitment to its employees as well as its customers,

“I am a big fan of the coffee chain Dutch Bros, which is exploding across my home state of Texas for good reason. In a space dominated by Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, their punk-rock vibe and social experience is the product as much as the coffee,” Westbrook wrote, before turning to expound upon its virtues such as an “escape lane” that allows drive-thru orders to be delivered ahead of time as well as a firm focus on service.

The company’s leader was equally as emphatic about Dutch Bros maintaining an edge in overall service standards.

“As we look at mobile order and pay, we think it’s incredibly important that we really keep our brand differentiator, and that brand differentiator is our service,” Barone said, per Entrepreneur.

That rosy outlook appears to have paid dividends on the market as well, with Dutch Bros stock hitting a 52-week high as of Jan. 14 (to $59.19 per share), according to Investing.com.