As President Eric Lauterbach has grown the company, he’s made it his mission to keep the good of the company’s key stakeholders front and center.

Peet’s Coffee “can really tell a story about the farmers and make it very personal.” — CEO Eric Lauterbach. (Photo: Peet’s Coffee)

It’s hard to find coffee lovers more passionate about a brand than customers of Peet’s Coffee. Eric Lauterbach, president of Peet’s, now leads the team that has kept that enthusiasm alive for nearly 57 years. Eric, who joined Peet’s in 2010 as head of the consumer division and became president in 2022, has prioritized supporting the farmers who grow its coffee as he has grown the roughly 5,000-person company exponentially. And, through 39 projects in 24 countries, Peet’s has been keeping these suppliers just as happy as its internal team of “Peatniks,” customers and external community.

We first honored Lauterbach last year while building our network of Social Capital CEOs, and are excited to recognize him here as one of the early honorees of the Dave Alexander Center for Social Capital. In an exclusive interview, we spoke with him recently about his innovative efforts to strengthen the company’s supply chain in a way that not only supports the lives of the farmers behind it but also gives Peet’s a powerful competitive edge. “We really believe in helping the farmers get better productivity and better yields, which leads to better prices and a better quality of life,” Eric says.

Not only does Peet’s help its customers wake up in the morning but is opening the eyes of its industry to the possibilities that coffee companies have to both turn a profit and transform the economies where they operate. As part of its efforts, it has rolled out a variety of small-batch coffees, such as an anniversary blend from women farmers that has helped to support the Women’s Entrepreneur Center in Colombia, and the Jubilant blend, to celebrate Black History Month. Says Eric, “We’re able to bring ‘smaller,’ even as we’ve gotten bigger.”

Those efforts, in turn, have strengthened the company’s brand, one built on storytelling. The company “can really tell a story about the farmers and make it very personal,” Eric says. “Coffee is an emotional category.”

Those stories sometimes skew to hard numbers and very specific details about its supply chain. With 50% of consumers saying they want to know where their coffee came from, according to Eric, Peet’s is ready, willing and able to share details about where its coffee comes from.

To learn more about what makes Peet’s a model of what a Social Capital company can be, check out our exclusive video, where Eric shares his sustainable and people-centric approach to stewarding a Social Capital company. You can watch it here.