A Day in the Life…At Dutch Bros: HQ Visit & Mgmt Takeaways

Research evidence excerpt

A Day in the Life…At Dutch Bros: HQ Visit & Mgmt Takeaways

May 20, 2026

Texas Comp Performance & New Market Strength. Texas posted a ~20% comp in 1Q (noted during the earnings

call), which management attributed to newer shops outperforming the system average as they enter the comp base,

alongside a maturing marketing engine that's now being deployed effectively in newer markets. We think Texas remains

the most important proof point in the BROS story - it's the largest comp state, the highest-competition state, and the

geography that will most credibly de-risk the path to the 7K TAM (recall, half of that TAM sits in states where BROS

already operates).

Throughput, Labor & the "Five Check Scorecard". New COO Jen Summers (~4 months in role) is rolling out a proprietary

"five check scorecard" centralizing the key shop-health metrics, with labor and deployment models being optimized

differently by shop based on volume and channel mix. We think the broader takeaway is that the operational toolkit is

still being built out, and the upside from throughput, mobile order, and labor optimization is more of a multi-year story

than a single-quarter unlock.

Real Estate Pipeline & Conversions. Conversions have always been part of BROS' pipeline (Clutch was simply a larger-

scale example), but the opportunity set has expanded over the last 12-15 months driven by distress and portfolio

rationalization across other drive-thru concepts. Drive-thru entitlements carry real scarcity value in geographies where

new drive-thru permits are difficult to obtain, which we think positions BROS well to be opportunistic on conversions,

and reinforces our view that the 2029 unit target is achievable.

East Valley (Arizona) Franchise Acquisition.