Gloria Jean's Coffees facts for kids
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Gloria Jean's store at the Brunswick Street Mall in Brisbane, Australia
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| Subsidiary | |
| Founded | 1979 in Long Grove, Illinois, USA |
| Founder | Ed & Gloria Jean Kvetko |
| Headquarters | Castle Hill, New South Wales, Australia |
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Number of locations
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1,000 in more than 39 countries |
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Key people
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Peter Irvine Nabi Saleh |
| Products | Hot and Cold Beverages |
| Owner | Retail Food Group |
Gloria Jean's Gourmet Coffee Pty Ltd is an American-Australian retail coffeehouse brand headquartered in Castle Hill, Sydney. The chain is owned by the multinational fast casual restaurant conglomerate Retail Food Group and has more than 1,400 mostly franchised stores in 40 countries, including over 460 in Australia.
History
Gloria Jean's Coffees was founded by Gloria Jean Kvetko in Long Grove, a small town just outside Chicago, Illinois, United States in 1979. The brand began as a small coffee and gift shop in the Chicago area and grew to over 50 locations in the United States after the franchising rights were purchased by the chain Coffee People.
International Expansion (1995 - 2009)
In 1995, Nabi Saleh and Peter Irvine, former managing director of advertising agency DDB Needham, established Gloria Jean's Coffees Australia and acquired the rights to franchise Gloria Jean's Coffees in Australia from owner Coffee People.
In late 1996, Gloria Jean's Coffees Australia opened its first Gloria Jean's coffee house in Miranda, Sydney, and two weeks later another in Eastgardens, also in Sydney.
In early 1998, Gloria Jean's Coffees Australia franchised its first store and within six years had opened 185 stores owned and operated by more than 100 franchisees.
In July 1999, Diedrich Coffee acquired Coffee People, the US owner of the Gloria Jean's Coffees brand.
In 2003, Gloria Jean's Coffees Australia opened a franchise in Darwin, Northern Territory, making the brand available in every Australian state and territory.
In 2004, Gloria Jean's Coffees Australia purchased the branding and roasting rights for all territories outside of the United States of America and Puerto Rico from Diedrich Coffee and established Gloria Jean’s Coffees International to handle non-Australian brand and franchising operations.
Consolidation (2009- )
Gloria Jean’s Coffees International purchased the US and Puerto Rican franchise rights to Gloria Jean's from Diedrich Coffee in 2009, giving the company exclusive worldwide franchising rights. As part of the deal, Diedrich retained the rights to use the Gloria Jean's brand in North America for coffee wholesaling operations and Kuerig coffee pods.
In 2013, Yellow Pages Singapore announced it would purchase the Australian and international operations of Gloria Jean's in a AU$35.6 million deal. Yellow Pages Singapore later pulled out of the deal and in 2014 Gloria Jean's was purchased by Retail Food Group for AU$163.5 million.
