A San Francisco coffee company that has remained family-owned since originally delivering its roasted beans by horse and buggy is regretfully closing. Freed, Teller & Freed (a.k.a. Freed’s) has announced that it will be shuddering its retail and wholesale headquarters next month due to an inability to “find suitable business successors.”
Post Street Store. Pre-1906. Photo Courtesy of Freed’s
The company’s original location opened at 708 Cole Street in 1899 in what was then on the outskirts of town and was later to become the Haight District. Through multiple fires, earthquakes and decades, the business has primarily made its mark locally as a wholesale provider of coffee to restaurants.
Following is the Freed’s goodbye letter, in full:
Dear Valued Customers & Friends: As most of you know, our firm has been in operation since 1899 when we began in San Francisco out on Cole St providing superior specialty coffee and tea. Through all of these years we have done so as a closely-held family business. We have managed to remain in continuous operation since the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which demolished our Post at Larkin St headquarters. Reborn on Polk Street in 1908, the family has worked tirelessly to provide a customized retail and wholesale experience for all of our patrons, especially through our final move to South San Francisco. It has been, by any measure, an extraordinary and wonderful run for us. Today we announce that on May 24, 2013, we are retiring and shuttering our specialty beverage operations forever! Unable to find suitable business successors that would meet not only your standards and ours by guaranteeing our patrons a seamless experience, we have decided closure is the appropriate choice. We are of the school of thought that all good things must come to an end. We humbly take this opportunity to offer our sincere thanks and appreciation for your patronage through the years, especially those of you with a multi-generational relationship with us. Your patronage has allowed us to provide our best efforts in offering the finest coffee and tea experience that we could. It has been an honor and our privilege to serve all of you through the years with just a few of life’s simple pleasures. Respectfully- The Freed’s Team
Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
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My mother used to make special trips to Freed, Teller & Freed on Polk St. for coffee beans when my family lived in San Francisco from 1951 to 1957.