DANE and Travis Boersma’s grandparents came from Holland, the town of Dantumadeel, from generations of dairy farmers. So milking cows is what the brothers tried first in America. It didn’t work out.
They were living in Oregon, though Travis went to school in Seattle for a while. He discovered cappuccinos. Premium coffee drinks are all the rage here, he told Dane: shall we start a coffee bar? Dane, 17 years older, didn’t care for cappuccinos, but when his little brother gave him a vanilla latte instead, he caved. The brothers built a coffee cart, got a permit to park it next to the post office, and pocketed $200 the first day.
Fast forward in time: today some 850 Dutch Bros drive-thru coffee kiosks are dotting western America’s landscape, over 200 in Texas alone. They are immediately recognizable by their Dutch sky blue and gray, the windmill, and the Dutch flag. They employ 22,000 mostly young people. Just like Starbucks has baristas, so does Dutch Bros have bro-istas.
THEY practice Dutch Luv, a genuine friendliness. You can’t fake it, you really have to be cheerful. And you don’t just become a kiosk manager, first you’ll have to work at the company for three years, full-time, one of which in management, and then they test you before giving you the green light. “We adopt them,” says the creative director. “We want Dutch Bros to be the best job of their lives.” The Harvard Business School did a project on the company – it passed with flying colors. Forbes named it one of America’s “big small businesses.”
The Boersmas from Holland. Dane died of Lou Gehrig’s disease; Dutch Bros honors him every year with a Drink One for Dane day, when the day’s proceeds go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. And on Valentine’s Day, your coffee is free if you bring three cans of food for the local food bank.
A FEW years ago, a customer waiting in line was perplexed as she watched four arms reaching out the window to a woman in the car in front of her. The lady had just tearfully shared that her husband had died that morning. The bro-istas spontaneously prayed with her, and told her that all drinks that month would be free. The customer behind her took a photo and posted it on Facebook. In no time, it had 60 million likes.
Dutch Luv.
