Dunn Brothers Coffee is a franchise company of coffeehouses founded in St. Paul, Minnesota, in December 1987 by brothers Ed and Dan Dunn.[1] As of June 2025, Dunn Brothers Coffee has 47 locations in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.[2]
History
The first store opened in 1987 at 1569 Grand Avenue in St. Paul,[3] after the Dunn brothers had driven an old Dodge van loaded with their belongings from Portland, Oregon, to Minnesota in search of a good, underserved location for a coffee business.
They found a refurbished 1950s Probat roaster in Cincinnati, Ohio, and used it to set up that first store. The second location opened in Uptown Minneapolis in 1991 (and was temporarily the only location while the Grand Avenue store was rebuilt following a 1991 fire). The Grand Avenue store still exists as "Dunn Bros Coffee" but is not part of the Dunn Brothers Coffee franchise.
On July 25, 2022, Dunn Brothers Coffee announced that it was acquired by Gala Capital Partners, owner of Cicis Pizza