Peabodys Coffee Inc., announced it has entered into a revised Letter of Intent, dated May 1, 2000, to acquire certain assets, including the coffee roasting operation, of Arrosto Coffee Company, a specialty coffee company operating in southern California. Arrosto is a branded coffee chain and roaster originally developed and launched by KOO KOO ROO. Details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Elliott, Lane & Associates, Inc. introduced Arrosto Coffee to the company as an acquisition candidate in December of 1999, whereby a LOI was executed between the two companies. The new LOI has substantially restructured the asset purchase to eliminate all retail store operations from the transaction.
Todd Tkachuk, President/CEO of Peabodys stated, “Our new agreement is far more favorable for both parties, eliminating high-street retailing from the equation and allowing us to stay focused on fast growth within our core segment of the market. We are not looking to bang heads with Starbucks – the specialty coffee market is robust and plenty diversified, offering growth and consolidation opportunities in our niche.”
Tkachuk added, “One of the assets we are acquiring from Arrosto is their coffee roasting operation that will be used to custom roast the Peabodys branded coffee for direct sale Business to Business and Business to Consumer from our website. Adding the roasting plant accomplishes our goal of securing our supply to support both our existing operations and the development of e-commerce via the internet.” “We are currently in discussions with several other acquisition targets that we hope to bring to the table in the near future to help fuel our growth plans,” said Tkachuk.