D utch Bros employees don’t walk into the beverage chain’s corporate offices in Tempe, Arizona, just across the freeway from the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, so much as they are transported. The employee entrance is a long, wide hallway, painted most- ly deep blue and lit with a large “DUTCH BROS” light, as well as the brand’s blue, red and yellow rainbow, which runs along the hallway on the walls, ceiling and the floor in neon and paint. The walls are pockmarked by the company’s windmill logo and images akin to the chain’s stickers, like “peace of mind” and “killer coffee.” There’s a big QR code for workers who need tech help and plenty of motivational quotes. “Make every day count” is in large letters on the right, and a neon sign with “luv and happiness” below a hand hold- ing up two fingers is on the far wall. More motivation is on the left. “Get up early, stay up late,” and “We leave every person and commu- nity better than we found it.” If that’s not enough, inside the corporate offices you’ll find a glass room with video games from 1992 like “Street Fighter 2” and “NBA Jam,” a pickleball court in the cafeteria, pool and ping pong tables, elec- tric bikes for rent, brightly colored murals and more beverage stations than you can count. If you’re not caffeinated here, you’re not trying. Not even the urinals are safe. Atop each is a Dutch creed, urging users “to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.” Overkill? Not for Dutch Bros, which has made company culture a crucial part of its business model since Travis and Dane Boersma opened a coffee cart in little Grants Pass, Oregon, in 1992. The compa- ny is intent on keeping that culture the same, whether the location is in Portland or at a strip mall outlot in Florida. And it’s a culture that could well have gone off the rails when this headquarters was opened. The brand had been stumbling coming out of its 2021 IPO. It changed management and opened this facility 1,000 miles away from the brand’s previous corporate offices. Any of those moves could have dampened the brand’s Dutch Love. This is where Christine Barone comes in. Barone came to Dutch Bros in 2023 and was elevated to CEO in 2024 and brought with her a steady hand, helping the company navigate challenges that undo many growth chains. In the process, Dutch Bros reestablished its pres- ence at the top of the list of chains that are redefining the beverage business. Dutch Bros has proven that a drive-thru can be a culture carrier and one that could generate sales all day, not just in the mornings. It established the energy drink, long the purview of the c-store sector, as a viable business for restaurant chains. And it has put larger rivals Starbucks and Dunkin’ on notice. Don’t just take our word for it, either: Just look at the blocks-long lines a new Dutch Bros generates every time it opens. Or maybe ask the executives at McDonald’s, Taco Bell and others that are rethinking their beverage offerings to grab a piece of this market. Yet it’s also a business, and a market, that is made for someone like Christine Barone, who has spent her life maneuvering through tough challenges while navigating big personalities. “It’s probably the most competitive space you can compete in,” said Joth Ricci, the former Dutch Bros CEO who helped recruit Barone to the company. “It isn’t just the coffee shop next door. The competition is the c-store market. The competition is the truck stop. The challenge of the category gives Christine an advantage, because she understands complexity and problem solving as well or better than anyone I’ve ever been around.” All of this has been more than enough to earn Barone the title of 2026 Restaurant Business Restaurant Leader of the Year, an award that will be presented at the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, April 19-22.
Barone has a disarmingly pleasant, steady demeanor and a desire to please. “She really wants to make sure that she brings a smile to people’s face,” her husband, Luca Barone said. Ricci thought that it was going to be a challenge when Barone was introduced to the corporate staff of Dutch Bros in Grants Pass in 2023. Instead, “within a couple of weeks, she had the place wrapped around her finger,” he said. “She’s like a mama bear, only with less of the bear, and more of the mama,” Travis Boersma said. That demeanor comes with a deep intelligence and a mind for strategy. Lauren Bailey, the cofounder and CEO of Upward Projects Restaurant Group in Phoenix, Bailey will sometimes call Barone for advice while working through difficult challenges. “I think she has the most incredible brain,” Bailey said. “The way she sees business, how she takes really huge challenges and turns them into opportunities. “Yeah, she’s perfect.” Barone grew up in Maryland. Her father worked with IBM. Her mother owned a school and a daycare. When she was 14 the family moved to Florida, where Barone threw herself into academics. She discovered she was good at math. She joined the math team, and for a time wanted to work at a particle accelerator. She and her father would have conversations about the origins of the universe. “I’ve always had a curiosity for finding things that aren’t figured out,” she said. “A lot of experimentation that goes into figuring out how the universe evolved is done in particle accelerators. So I had this fas- cination with figuring out unsolved things.”
PHOTO | JON MOUER
APRIL 2026 RESTAURANT BUSINESS
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