The prolific coffee company with ties to Nazi Germany

In this latest book on the barons who control America's food and drink industry, Austin Frerick explores the dark past of a company you won't recognise but will have interacted with

- Austin Frerick

You may not have heard of JAB Holding Company, but there's a good chance you've been in one of its stores.

The Luxembourg-based conglomerate, controlled by members of the reclusive Reimann family in Germany, owns coffee chains and bakeries from sea to shining sea – and beyond. The list is extensive: Peet’s Coffee, Caribou Coffee, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Bruegger’s Bagels, Manhattan Bagel, Noah’s New York Bagels, Krispy Kreme, Pret A Manger, Insomnia Cookies, and Panera Bread. In fact, the company now sells more coffee than Starbucks.

Even coffee drinkers who try to keep visits to small neighbourhood cafes are probably giving their money to JAB anyway because many independent stores buy their beans from roasters owned by the company, including seemingly local ones such as Stumptown Coffee Roasters, La Colombe Coffee Roasters, Intelligentsia Coffee, and Green Mountain Coffee.

JAB also sells directly to customers who prefer their beverages at home through its ownership of Keurig Dr Pepper, one of the largest makers of single-serve coffee pods in the United States, and Trade Coffee, an online retailer. JAB became the world’s second-largest purveyor of coffee (excluding coffee sold in stores) within seven years of selling its first bean.

The Reimann family has studiously avoided media coverage and public appearances. In fact, rumour has it that when family members turn 18, they sign a pledge not to show their faces in public, which is why no photos accompany their names in the annual Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest people. As The Economist put it, the Reimanns are “faceless”, letting the wild success of their coffee empire speak for itself.