Barone was built for this, however. She has the financial acumen as a math major who went to work in the financial sector before joining restaurants. She understands the bev- erage business and its complexities, thanks to Starbucks. She understands leadership—hey, you try helping all 12 kids in a house get their lunches—and she can translate a founder’s vi- sion into practice. Yet she had to convince her family that this was the right thing to do. At first, the job would take her to Oregon from the family’s Arizona home during weekdays. Her young- est daughter did not want her to take the job. Until, that is, she found out what the restau- rant chain was. Younger consumers, who line up for the chain’s stickers and its energy drinks and mostly cold, espresso-based beverages, have been crucial to the brand’s success. Barone took over as Dutch Bros CEO in 2024. The brand has more than doubled in size since then. It weathered the opening of the new headquarters the next year. The company’s stock price has gone up 71% since then. The company crafted a new strategy for opening in new markets, which has helped those locations thrive and generate the long lines. Dutch Bros implemented mobile order and pay, which has driven sales further. The company is now adding an expanded
PHOTO: DUTCH BROS.
food menu to lure more customers during those crucial morning hours. It is also experimenting with a walk-up unit in Los Angeles that could open more growth down the line in places where drive-thrus don’t work. And it just created a line of items to be sold at retail, which is designed to improve the company’s name recognition. Same-store sales, which stumbled in late 2022 and early 2023, have picked up and grown every quarter since she took over. The chain has grown to more than 1,100 locations and has plans to double that number, to 2,029 locations, by 2029. It is thriving in Texas, just opened in Florida, and is generating long lines in Illinois. “She’s been so instrumental in taking us to a whole new level, with not only the financial part of the business, but the cultural part of the business that’s so important, and how we perform operationally,” Boersma said. “She has built a world-class team and I couldn’t be more proud to have her steer the ship.”
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