Diedrich Coffee history

He and his family filled up their 1962 Volkswagen bus with beans from their plantation and headed north from Guatemala to Newport Beach, California.

A New Plantation in Guatemala in 1966

The Diedrich family began California operations in 1972 by importing, roasting, and retailing coffee from their farm in Antigua, Guatemala.

In 1982, during severe political and economic turmoil in Guatemala, the Diedrich family’s coffee farm was seized.

In 1983, Martin left behind a career in Mayan archeology to help his parents with their small family coffee roastery in Costa Mesa, CA. During that year his vision emerged to create community meeting places where people could gather and enjoy his family’s exquisite farm-direct coffees.

Martin founded the first Diedrich coffeehouse in Costa Mesa in 1984, which grew to nearly a dozen locations over the next decade.

The First Coffeehouse in 1985

Karen Diedrich is a lifelong coffee lover and brings her own eclectic array of experience to Kéan Coffee™. In 1994 when Karen was doing public relations and coordinating entertainment and events for a local coffeehouse, she and Martin met at a coffee event.

Diedrich Coffee launched an initial public offering (IPO) in 1996, which put Diedrich in direct national competition with Starbucks.

In 1997 Martin Diedrich announced that he was stepping down from his role as chairman to take the new position of vice-chairman and chief coffee officer.

In 1998 Diedrich signed deals to offer Diedrich Coffee in national food franchises, including Taco Bell.

In 1999 the company acquired Coffee People, Inc., a leading chain of mall-based coffee stores.

As of 2000 he hoped to open 1,200 to 1,500 new units over the next five years.

In June of 2004 Martin resigned his position at Diedrich Coffee and began to manifest a new vision for a modern coffeehouse that would bring back the community spirit and deep coffee culture of his early coffeehouses, as well as modeling community and global responsibility and awareness.