Dutch Bros vs Starbucks: The Drive Thru Showdown

Starbucks

Starbucks opened in 1971 as a shop at Pike Place Market that sold whole beans and brewing gear, not drinks. It was named after the first mate in Moby Dick. The espresso bar version came later, after Howard Schultz visited the coffee bars of Milan in 1983 and came home convinced Americans wanted that ritual.

Dutch Bros

Dane and Travis Boersma were third generation dairy farmers watching their industry shrink. In 1992 they bought a double head espresso machine, experimented with beans in their empty milk house, and started selling from a pushcart in downtown Grants Pass. According to the IPO letter Travis later wrote, the cart cost everything they had, quickly made over $100 a day, and one cart became five.

Starbucks

The menu still orbits the classics: drip, lattes, Americanos and the Pike Place Roast it introduced in 2008. Lately matcha has been a big afternoon seller, in a quarter when U.S. comparable sales rose 7.7 percent.

Dutch Bros

The house espresso, Private Reserve, is a 100 percent arabica three bean blend roasted in Grants Pass. But the stars are the flavored drinks, like the Golden Eagle: espresso with vanilla, caramel and half and half under a caramel drizzle. Coffee drinks were about half of the menu mix in the company’s 2023 annual report.

Starbucks

Cold drinks hit about 75 percent of Starbucks beverage sales by mid 2024, up from 37 percent in 2013. The Frappuccino, which arrived in 1995, did a lot of the early lifting.

Dutch Bros

Around 82 percent of its drinks were already served cold back in 2020. Add Rebel, now joined by Myst Energy Refreshers, and you get a menu that sells as well at 3 p.m. as it does at 7 a.m.

Starbucks

Under CEO Brian Niccol, the “Back to Starbucks” plan is about rebuilding the coffeehouse as a third place between home and work, somewhere you actually want to sit. “Our coffeehouses are coffeehouses again,” he told analysts in October.

Dutch Bros

Most shops are drive thru and walk up only. On a busy morning, broistas walk the line with tablets and take your order before you reach the window. Order ahead is growing too, at 17 percent of visits last quarter.

Starbucks

After closing underperforming stores, Starbucks says it has line of sight on 5,000 more U.S. locations. It already has 16,781 here and more than 41,000 worldwide.

Dutch Bros

Revenue grew almost 30 percent to $549.8 million last quarter, about 250 new shops are planned for 2027, and the company has talked about one day reaching 7,000.

Go Starbucks if

you drink your coffee black or close to it, you want a seat and Wi‑Fi, you are traveling and need the same drink in any city, or you are deep into a Rewards streak.

Go Dutch Bros if

you never leave the car, you like your coffee sweet and loud, you want an afternoon energy drink instead of a fourth espresso, or you enjoy a little small talk at the window.