Portland’s coffee scene maintains a huge reputation throughout the country (and the world) for excellent, locally-owned roasters and brewers of some of the best coffee you can drink.

Unfortunately, with success comes opportunity, and outside business interests have started scooping up our local shops, making them parts of their conglomerates (witness the purchase of Stumptown Coffee back in 2011).

Boyd Coffee Company, what might be Portland’s oldest coffee roaster – it was founded in 1900, announced on August 21, 2017 that they will be acquired by Farmer Brothers (NASDAQ: FARM), a publicly-traded firm.


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Farmer Brothers, based in Northlake, Texas, will make beans out of Boyd Coffee Company after purchasing them for $42 million and 21,000 shares of preferred stock, an estimated deal totaling nearly $60 million. Previously, Farmers snagged Coffee Bean International, West Coast Coffee, and Public Domain, all Portland-based coffee companies.

Many Portlanders, like other Americans, tend to prefer smaller “mom-and-pop” shops to giant conglomerates since smaller companies tend to focus on quality and customer satisfaction over sheer profits. Stumptown Coffee seems to have weathered its transition into the investment realm, maybe Farmer Brothers will do the same with Boyd?

What are your feelings on locally-operated Portland businesses getting brewed into larger corporations? Leave ’em in the comments!

Source: High-profile homegrown Portland coffee company to be sold