Key Takeaways
- • Dutch Bros CEO Christine Barone completed the same two-week broista bootcamp as all other top leaders, including six shifts of hands-on shop training and a "Flow" test covering drink recipes, company history, shop operations and culture, according to Fortune.
- • The training is part of Dutch Bros' "growth from within" model, under which store owners and senior managers have been put through the course for years, with leaders required to retake the test if they do not pass.
- • Dutch Bros reported record revenue of $1.64 billion in 2025, up 27.9% year over year, and operates 1,273 locations across 27 U.S. states with 37,000 systemwide employees.
- • The company's operators typically start on the coffee line before moving into leadership, and Barone says a "large number" of headquarters staff began as broistas.
Summary
Dutch Bros CEO Christine Barone and the company's senior leaders have completed a two-week bootcamp designed to train them in the hands-on work of the company's frontline staff, according to a Fortune report. The program requires six shifts of shop training in which leaders sharpen hospitality skills, perfect drink orders and learn to deliver on the company's stated values of speed, quality and service. Participants learn to prepare drinks including the popular Golden Eagle coffee, with the aim that a drink tastes the same on Monday as on Wednesday. The bootcamp concludes with a "Flow" test covering drink recipes, company history, shop operations and culture; those who fail must retake it.
Barone told Fortune that shop workers did not hesitate to correct her during training. "As I trained, people knew I was the CEO, and our teams would always point out when I was doing something wrong," she said, describing this as a sign of a strong customer-focused culture. She said the training was extended to headquarters marketing and product teams so that those designing programs and beverages understand the shop environment.
The program reflects the vision of founders Travis Boersma and the late Dane Boersma, who named the company after their grandparents, immigrants from the Netherlands. The company has grown from a pushcart operation in Grants Pass, Oregon, in 1992 to a $7.5 billion coffee chain. Private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners acquired a minority stake when the company had 300 locations and 9,000 staffers in 2018. Dutch Bros has since gone public, surpassed $1 billion in revenue and now ranks as the third-largest U.S. coffee chain by sales and location count, behind Starbucks and Dunkin'. The company hopes to reach 2,029 locations by 2029.
Barone said that operators start as broistas before advancing to regional management, and that firsthand experience gives leaders empathy and an understanding of front-line issues, which she considers important for decision-making and for preserving culture as the company grows.
Barone told Fortune that shop workers did not hesitate to correct her during training. "As I trained, people knew I was the CEO, and our teams would always point out when I was doing something wrong," she said, describing this as a sign of a strong customer-focused culture. She said the training was extended to headquarters marketing and product teams so that those designing programs and beverages understand the shop environment.
The program reflects the vision of founders Travis Boersma and the late Dane Boersma, who named the company after their grandparents, immigrants from the Netherlands. The company has grown from a pushcart operation in Grants Pass, Oregon, in 1992 to a $7.5 billion coffee chain. Private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners acquired a minority stake when the company had 300 locations and 9,000 staffers in 2018. Dutch Bros has since gone public, surpassed $1 billion in revenue and now ranks as the third-largest U.S. coffee chain by sales and location count, behind Starbucks and Dunkin'. The company hopes to reach 2,029 locations by 2029.
Barone said that operators start as broistas before advancing to regional management, and that firsthand experience gives leaders empathy and an understanding of front-line issues, which she considers important for decision-making and for preserving culture as the company grows.
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