Royal Cup Coffee and Tea Completes Farmer Brothers Acquisition

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Royal Cup Coffee and Tea has completed its acquisition of Farmer Brothers Coffee Co., bringing together two of the oldest U.S. commercial coffee companies under a single Birmingham, Alabama-based company.

The deal, first announced in March, was approved by Farmer Brothers stockholders at a special meeting on May 1. Trading of Farmer Brothers common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market was halted before the market opening on May 5, taking the company private after decades as a publicly traded enterprise.

According to a May 5 SEC filing from Farmer Brothers, Royal Cup paid $1.29 in cash per Farmer Brothers share. The total payout was approximately $28.3 million, including payments tied to restricted stock units and other stock-based awards.

The acquisition expands Royal Cup’s national reach across foodservice, hospitality, healthcare, convenience and retail channels. Farmer Brothers also brings a portfolio of brands including Boyd’s Coffee, SUM>ONE Coffee Roasters, West Coast Coffee, Cain’s and China Mist.

The transaction was backed by Braemont Capital, the Dallas-based private equity firm that previously invested in Royal Cup.

“This highly complementary acquisition accelerates Royal Cup’s strategy to build a scaled, national platform in the coffee industry,” Wali Bacdayan, a partner at Braemont Capital, said in an announcement of the closing. “Since investing in Royal Cup, we have supported its execution of a disciplined, sustainable growth plan.”

Founded in 1896 in Birmingham, Royal Cup has long operated one of the country’s most extensive foodservice and office coffee route delivery systems.

Farmer Brothers, founded in 1912 in California before relocating to the Dallas-Fort Worth area over a century later, had significantly restructured its operations in recent years. The company sold its Northlake, Texas production and distribution facility to TreeHouse Foods for $100 million in 2023 and refocused on its nationwide direct-store-delivery model.

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