Patrick Dempsey may not be a doctor but he plays one on TV. And he may not be a barista, but he's not just playing one off-screen. While Dempsey may cause some to heat up quickly for his portrayal of the so-called Dr. McDreamy on ABC’s hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, he is about to help a whole other target audience stay alert and warm as well.

Dempsey and a few other moneyed partners calling themselves Global Baristas late last week signed a deal to shell out $9.16 million to buy the Seattle-based Tully’s Coffee brand, outbidding local coffee behemoth Starbucks for the honor of taking on the 500 employees of a company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last October. A U.S. bankruptcy court will review the bid on Friday, January 11th.Continue reading...

Green Mountain Coffee is one of those success stories that keeps the dreams of small business owners alive. The company started as a small coffee cafe in Waitsfield, Vermont in 1981. Twelve years later, Green Mountain went public and it has been on an upward spiral ever since, racking up double digit net sales growth for the last thirty consecutive quarters. Still, the company has been true to its roots, maintaining its corporate headquarters in America's "green mountain state."

Green Mountain Coffee is a well-known brand in its own right, yet it owns other coffee brands as well: Newman's Own Organics coffee, Seattle coffee roaster Tully's, California's Diedrich, and the Canadian brand Timothy's. Green Mountain also acquired Keurig in 2006, renowned as a pioneer in gourmet single-cup (known as "K-cup") coffee brewing systems, after it became the first coffee roaster to enter the single cup business.

Now Green Mountain has added to its impressive brand list with the acquisition of Montreal-based coffee maker Van Houtte for an eye-opening $890 million.Continue reading...