What was once one of America’s top-selling coffee brands will continue its comeback this weekend when it is sold for the first time, starting Thursday, in Costco stores around the region.
Fleetwood Coffee, which was started in Chattanooga in 1925 and resurrected five years ago by the grandson of its founder along with coffee roaster Jennifer Stone, is being sold at Costco stores in Atlanta, Nashville, Knoxville and Fort Oglethorpe where coffee promoters will set up tasting booths to get consumers to sample the brand.
“We are very excited to have this relationship with Costco,” said Jennifer Stone, founder and CEO of International Coffee Group. “The Roadshow Concept allows us to connect with coffee lovers and let them experience the difference in great quality coffee. I want to invite Chattanooga area Costco members to come in this Father’s Day weekend and sample these coffees with me.”
Stone, a licensed quality grader and coffee judge who began roasting coffee in 1997, said the Fleetwood brand is designed as a specialty grade coffee at a value price point. Fleetwood coffee usually sells for $6.99 for a 12-ounce sag. But at Costco, a 2-pound bag of Fleetwood Coffee will sell for only $10.99.
“We’ve gotten a lot of talk and placement as the brand has come back and there is a lot of interest in what is old becoming new again,” Stone said.
Fleetwood was once a well-known brand, but it went off the market after being bought by Coca-Cola, which later dropped the coffee line.
Local businessman George McGee obtained the patent for the Fleetwood Coffee that was held by the founder – his grandfather, Henry King. The Fleetwood name came from Fleetwood Drive on Lookout Mountain.
The business was boosted in 2015 with investments from nearly 100 equity investors, including Blank Slate Ventures, the Chattanooga Renaissance Fund, Lamp Post Group and the Jump Fund.
Over the past five years, the resurrected brand has gotten shelf space in Food City grocery stores and Kroger and Publix outlets in the South.
“We’re working to continue to grow our presence and, I think, the Costco addition should really help expose more people to this brand,” Stone said.
The brand still enjoys recognition from its past even though it was not produced for many years prior to five years ago. Stone said she met a man at a Knoxville grocery store who sang the original Fleetwood Coffee jingle from the past.
The Fleetwood Coffee brand is produced at a roasting facility off of Riverside Drive, where Stone also makes its Stone Cup brand and a proprietary line for Four J Foods for such New York City chefs as Jonathan Waxman, Joey Campanaro and Jimmy Bradley. The Four J coffee line is also sold through H-E-B Grocery Stores in South Texas, Stone said.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfrepres.com or at 757-6340