Case Study: How Caribou Coffee Makes Sure Nothing Comes between Their Customers and Their Coffee

For over 30 years, Caribou Coffee has operated community-centered coffeehouses that set the global standard for high-quality ingredients, specialty-grade coffee, sustainable practices, and real community connections. Today, this global retail brand offers handcrafted beverages and crave-worthy food to guests in more than five hundred coffeehouses in the U.S..

As Eric Caron, Senior Director of Digital Experience, teases, "One of the most dangerous places to stand is between a customer and their coffee."

All joking aside, as Caron explains, "If our location pages or Google Maps or any data on a third-party site tells the customer we're open at 5 a.m., we darn well better make sure that that door is open."

Caron reveals that, before Yext, the team was using "some spreadsheets on some desktops and four to five different systems held together with some FTP, some API, and just some love and good luck." While absolutely scrappy, their approach wasn't sustainable. Nor was it scalable as the brand looked toward an era of company and franchise growth.

Today, Caribou Coffee uses Yext Listings, Reviews, Pages, Analytics, and Knowledge Graph. As Caron attests, Yext Knowledge Graph has been key to helping them earn and keep their customers' trust:

"For anybody who's been in Brand, you understand how important trust is. It takes so long to build. It's so quick to lose, and when you have it, it's worth its weight in gold. Yext Knowledge Graph helps us maintain that trust so that when a guest pulls up our app or pulls up one of our listings on a third-party site and it says we're open, they know we're open."

With over 200 menu items (plus seasonal specials) served at 500+ locations in the U.S., there's always something that needs to be communicated to customers. And that needs to be shared consistently, accurately, across listings, channels, and publishers.

From brand-wide holiday hours and promotions to localized needs like road construction impacting drive-thru access or water main breaks, every Caribou Coffee shop has important information to share with customers in each community. Local stores are empowered to make real-time updates, too, when inclement weather prompts store closures or certain products sell out.

As Caron reports, "Team members can mark updates in our system, which then go to Yext Knowledge Graph, which then distributes it to all the different publishers and people who need to know. Again, when a customer opens our app or pulls up one of our listings on a third-party site and it says we're open, they know we're open. They can trust it — and trust us."

For Caribou Coffee, moving to Yext Knowledge Graph isn't just a way to build trust and loyalty with customers. As Caron suggests, Knowledge (Graph) is power:

Yext Knowledge Graph continues to give Caribou Coffee a competitive edge, unlocking new business opportunities, too.

As Caron shares, "Because of Knowledge Graph, we'll be able to do more than reflect real-time product availability. We can change the customer's brand experience. Say a store runs out of stock on a particular product. And say the supply chain isn't going to be able to restock it for three days. Rather than disappointing customers with a hero image for something that isn't available at the moment, we'll flip the image and product info to another hero that we have in stock."

Gone are the days of spreadsheets, manual updates, and unreliable APIs. With Yext Knowledge Graph, Caribou Coffee has one clear, trusted data source to keep customers in the know, even when things change quickly. The brand spends focused time and talent on strategic growth instead of operational busywork — growing their business, keeping customers happy, and owning their reputation as a trusted, beloved community coffeehouse.

To learn more, visit cariboucoffee.com, follow Caribou Coffee on social media, or download the Caribou Coffee app to join Caribou Perks and start earning rewards.