A Public Relations Success:

As a freshman in college I randomly applied to Dutch Bros. Coffee in the hopes of finding an “easy” job, I loved coffee and people and thought it would be a perfect fit. But little did I know that getting hired would change my previous plans for the future.

Espresso Machine and Tins

 

Coffee is what we do, but is not who we are

Everyone sees Dutch as a group of happy, unique, hipster kids who have been brought together by the love of coffee. But being a PR student, I see their company for much more. I never knew where I wanted to pursue my career until I got to witness how DB headquarters operates.

Dutch Bros. Instagram
Each Dutch location controls their own PR and marketing, with the guidance of HQ. The most difficult part about this is maintaining a consistent voice across all 256 locations’ accounts.

Then where is the content created for social?

There is a private Facebook group for all the PR teams to share content they curate themselves with one another that is available for use by any shop. However, many stands choose to create their own content while working.

What makes this company stand out from the rest?

Dutch is different because of how much freedom the owners give their employees to express themselves, while still holding true to the company’s tone and mission statement (or in Dutch’s case, our Dutch Creed).

Dutch Bros Facebook
Dutch Bros. has a Love Abounds program built around giving back to the community through various projects as far as El Salvador. The company’s PR comes so easily to them because they’re built around serving and improving the lives of others, and in return, it improves their image.So how has Dutch been able to give so much freedom while staying consistent? Every employee is in a probation period once they are out of training, where each employee is given a mentor that they work with on shift that does not only work on recipes but how to uphold Dutch’s Creed: Speed. Quality. Service.

Turning “kids” into PR pros

Few companies would entrust their college-aged employees to run the job of a PR agency, but somehow Dutch has successfully done so. This says a lot about how times are changing and how millennials are altering the conservative ways businesses’ once operated.

All photo credit to DutchBros.com and DB Facebook social forum

Written by Hope Lumbley, Account Executive