- 24 May, 2002 -

Minneapolis-based Dunn Bros. Coffee will double its store count and open its first stores outside the Twin Cities metro area by the end of 2004. Dunn Bros. is opening its 26th store this month in Maple Grove and expects to have about 35 by year's end. The big change, however, is that many of the soon-to-be-open Dunn Bros. shops will be in Greater Minnesota markets such as Duluth, Rochester and St. Cloud. The push will get faster in 2003, when company officials expect to open between 15 and 20 more stores. Dunn Bros. also plans to cross state lines as it finds qualified franchisees. To assist with the expansion, the firm will embark later this year on a roughly $1 million funding drive. "We finally reached that point where we know we're going to have to do a private placement," said Chris Eilers, CEO. The firm is looking at markets including Milwaukee; Kansas City, Mo.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Omaha and Lincoln, Neb. When hitting those first non-Minnesota markets, the company will copy the strategy of two successful upstart restaurant chains --Noodles & Co. and Chipotle -- by building several stores in a short period of time for penetration and brand recognition. Eilers and Skip Fay, who had been the company's first franchisees, bought Dunn Bros. in 1998 from Ed and Dan Dunn.

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