While local competitor Caribou Coffee downsized its downtown retail footprints, Dunn Brothers Coffee is expanding—and not just in the Twin Cities. In spring, it announced plans to open 250 new stores across multiple states over the next five years, a quintupling of its current footprint. The plan is the company’s “most ambitious franchising initiative to date,” says president Scott Harvey. He notes that Dunn Brothers has also invested in corporate-owned, rather than franchised, shops to “test and learn at our expense before we ask a franchisee to do so.” He says the company is on track to open five more stores by year’s end: “We are bullish in our ability to compete in markets where we see opportunity.”