PEET'S COFFEE LAUNCHES SPRING SEASONAL MENU DEDICATED TO PLANT-BASED INGREDIENTS`

EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 9, Peet's will introduce its Spring coffeebar offerings fully dedicated to vegan and dairy-free items. The new coffee and espresso beverages include familiar flavors designed to highlight oat and almond milks. The innovative food menu features plant-based ingredients produced by Beyond Meat^®, JUST Egg™ and Violife^®. Peet's Coffee has also made it easier to order vegan-friendly food and coffee beverages with a new plant-based menu section in the Peet's mobile app.

"Peet's Spring menu celebrates the freshness of the season and the growing availability of delicious plant-based ingredients," said Lori Fulmer, CRC, Senior Manager, Food R&D for Peet's Coffee. "Over the last 12 months, the number of plant-based meat, cheese and dairy products available to consumers in the marketplace has more than doubled." ¹

Peet's Spring menu introduces a plant-based Mediterranean Flatbread highlighting seasonal ingredients. A crispy lavash is topped with warm JUST Egg and Violife 100 percent vegan smoked provolone cheese, wrapped alongside savory pesto, kale, tomatoes, and bell peppers for all-day enjoyment. The Flatbread joins Peet's Everything Plant-Based Sandwich, launched in Spring 2021, which is now a permanent menu item. Peet's first fully plant-based breakfast bagel sandwich is already Peet's second highest-selling warm breakfast item ever.

"Plant-based foods are not alternatives or substitutes at Peet's Coffee," said Fulmer. "At a time when most consumers are lucky to find one plant-based option in restaurants, Peet's is taking our commitment to the next level with a menu that highlights high quality vegan ingredients that taste delicious and have great flavor." 

The beverage experts at Peet's Coffee crafted three new plant-based beverages that complement the natural flavors and creamy textures of oat and almond milks. Each is handcrafted to order and available hot or iced including a Hazelnut Oat Latte and Vanilla Almond Latte, and Cold Brew with Vanilla Oat Foam. Peetnik Rewards members will have exclusive access to a Hazelnut Cold Brew Oat Latte when ordering online or on the app.

Plant-Based Ingredients On the Rise
Plant-based ingredients continue to increase in availability to satisfy consumer interest. While only 15 percent of consumers say they follow a specific type of diet, such as vegetarian and vegan, an increasing number say they are eating more plant-based fare than last year, with 62 percent of consumers claiming to have at least one meatless meal per week. ² 

Peet's Coffee partners with leading plant-based ingredient producers to develop the highest quality foods for its coffeebar guests. Tasty and sustainable, JUST Egg Folded™ is made entirely of plants and contains as much protein as a conventional chicken egg, but with zero cholesterol and less saturated fat. Plus, its ingredients use 98 percent less water, 86 percent less land and produce 93 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than conventional animal sources. Violife is the #1 selling plant-based cheese³ with a wide range of plant-based cheeses that taste and melt, slice, and shred like cheese. Violife is made for cheese lovers everywhere to indulge in their love for cheese but free from dairy, preservatives, casein, lactose, gluten, nuts, and soy. The Peet's Everything Plant Based Sandwich includes a Beyond Breakfast Sausage^® patty, which is made with simple plant-based ingredients without GMOs, soy, gluten, or cholesterol and delivers the taste and texture of traditional pork sausage. Each Beyond Breakfast Sausage patty has less total fat, saturated fat, and sodium than the leading brand of pork breakfast sausage.

Limited Time Spring Offers
Each year, Peet's celebrates its anniversary with a coffee that gives back. Peet's Coffee Anniversary Blend features plum and red fruit notes balanced with a hint of fine chocolate, that finishes velvety soft on the palate. Anniversary Blend launches on March 8, International Women's Day, as the coffee is produced by female coffee farmers in Colombia & Rwanda.  For every pound sold, Peet's Coffee will donate $1 (up to $50,000) to the Women's Center for Entrepreneurship in Colombia. This program promotes equity and provides women coffee farmers with training to improve their businesses, lives, and community.

From March 9 until March 22, Peet's Coffee fans can enjoy a cool, creamy, green Mint Matcha Frappé in honor of St. Patrick's Day. The treat can be customized as plant-based with Peet's Coffee alternative milks – oat, almond, or soy – and by skipping the whipped cream.

New Peetnik Rewards members can enjoy a free plant-based item when they download the Peet's app, and enter promo code "PLANTSRULE" at enrollment from March 9 – 31. Additionally, existing members can enjoy double points on all plant-based food and beverage items⁴ from March 9 – 15. 

Peet's Coffee 2022 Spring Menu Includes:

• NEW! Hazelnut Oat Latte (hot or iced)
  Perfectly steamed plant-based oat milk and Espresso Forte^® meets the sweetness of fragrant hazelnut for luscious sips.

• NEW! Vanilla Almond Latte (iced)
  Espresso Forte^® mixes with steamed plant-based almond milk to capture the smooth and velvety sweetness of vanilla.

• NEW! Cold Brew with Vanilla Oat Foam
  A luscious layer of airy, vanilla-laced oat milk microfoam, on top of smooth and refreshing Baridi cold brew.

• NEW! PEETNIK REWARDS MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Hazelnut Cold Brew Oat Latte (hot or iced)
  A plant-based twist on a fragrant favorite, this exclusive beverage for Peetnik Rewards members combines hazelnut syrup with invigorating Baridi Cold Brew and luscious oat milk. Only available when you order ahead with the Peet's app.

• NEW! Mediterranean Flatbread
  A fully plant-based wrap with JUST Egg and Violife 100 percent vegan smoked provolone cheese atop a savory blend of pesto, kale, tomatoes, and tangy bell peppers inside a crispy lavash. Available all day.

• Everything Plant-Based Sandwich (permanent menu item due to popularity)
  Peet's first fully plant-based breakfast sandwich, the Everything Plant-Based Sandwich, is a fresh twist on a classic, stacking a Beyond Breakfast Sausage, JUST Egg, and Violife 100 percent vegan cheddar cheese on an everything bagel thin.

Learn more about Peet's new plant-based offerings at peets.com/spring.

1. ADM Alternative Protein Outlook (2022, Feb. 8)
2. Prepared Foods. (2018, Aug. 13). Plant-based foods, drinks take root on restaurant menus [article]. https://www.preparedfoods.com/articles/121469-plant-based-foods-drinks-take-root-on-restaurant-menus
3. Based on Nielsen data latest 26 weeks sales of Alternative Cheese in Total US Food – week ending in 1/1/22
4. Offer excludes coffee beans, bottled beverages, K-Cup^® Pods and Espresso Capsules.  See in-app offer for details.

About Peet's Coffee: 
Founded in Berkeley, California in 1966 by Alfred Peet, the "Big Bang of coffee," Peet's Coffee^® introduced an artisan movement by sourcing the world's best beans, hand-roasting in small batches, and crafting beverages by hand. With rich, complex, superior quality roasts unlike anything Americans ever tasted before, Peet's influenced generations of coffee entrepreneurs and connoisseurs. Today, Peet's is uncompromisingly dedicated to its founding tenets and asserts a strict standard of freshness, ensuring optimum flavor with a team that personally vets the beans available at 17,000 grocery stores nationwide. Peet's operates from the first LEED^® Gold certified roastery in the United States and grows its business through retail cafes, grocery, on-premise, and e-commerce channels. For more information, visit www.peets.com. Stay connected to Peet's: @peetscoffee on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook.

SOURCE Peet's Coffee Inc.