Starbucks acquired Seattle’s Best Coffee in 2003.
Seattle’s Best began as the Wet Whisker, a coffee and ice-cream shop opened by Jim Stewart on Washington’s Whidbey Island in 1969. The business later became Stewart Brothers Coffee and adopted the Seattle’s Best Coffee name in 1991 after winning a local competition.
AFC Enterprises purchased the company in 1998 and expanded its franchising and wholesale operations. In July 2003, AFC sold Seattle’s Best Coffee to Starbucks, which acquired the brand alongside Torrefazione Italia in a deal worth about $72 million.
The acquisition added a recognized regional coffee brand and a significant wholesale business to Starbucks’ portfolio. It is sometimes confused with Starbucks’ 1998 acquisition of the UK-based Seattle Coffee Company, which was a separate transaction. Starbucks owned Seattle’s Best until selling the brand to Nestlé in 2022.