Caribou Coffee promotes Matt Reiter to new role of Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer
Product, insights and brand marketing functions come together under single leadership
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – DEC. 1, 2025 – Caribou Coffee®, the global premium coffeehouse operator, announces the promotion of Matt Reiter to Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer. In this new role, Reiter — reporting directly to Caribou’s Chief Executive Officer, Scott Kennedy — will oversee the company’s existing Product and Brand & Marketing teams together with newly formed Business Intelligence & Data Analytics, Brand Insights, and Strategy & Guest Experience functions. The appointment is designed to further sharpen the company’s focus on its guest experience by aligning these disciplines into one unified function to drive new efficiencies and build on the premium product offerings and cozy coffeehouse environment for which Caribou is known.
“Matt has made impressive contributions to Caribou since joining our leadership team in 2018, most recently leading Product & Procurement,” said Scott Kennedy. “He has both a natural ability and proven track record in understanding and using both market and guest data to shape where and what we need to focus on, to ensure we will succeed in premium product development, effective brand marketing and in shaping an excellent guest experience across all of these touchpoints.”
In his new role, Reiter will lead enterprise-wide strategic planning and manage the creation of a singular, centralized view of Caribou’s commercial strategy. By combining data-driven insights from product development to in-store sales and marketing communications, Reiter’s team will drive greater efficiencies, reduce operational friction and build an enhanced business model that firmly puts the guest at the center of decision making.
“Stepping into this new role is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of our business and the way we serve our guests,” said Reiter. “Guest experience has always been important to Caribou and the way we operate our coffeehouses. Aligning these core business units and enhancing our business intelligence capabilities will give us better insight into guest preferences and needs. This will help us make smarter decisions that create exceptional experiences for guests and support the teams who bring those experiences to life every day.”
Reiter is an accomplished business leader and strategist. Prior to joining Caribou, he held roles in product, merchandising, and planning at category-defining organizations like Amazon and Target and advised retail brands during his time at PwC’s advisory group. In all, Reiter’s through line is an exceptional and proven track record of understanding consumer behavior and delivering strategies and programs to engage them with brands. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Business Administration from St. Louis University.
Reiter’s promotion comes at the same time as the evolution of other Caribou business unit leadership roles across Finance & Accounting, Development & Real Estate, Technology, Coffeehouse Operations, and Procurement & Supply Chain. All follow the appointment of Scott Kennedy to Chief Executive Officer in September 2025.
About Caribou Coffee®
Caribou Coffee serves high-quality handcrafted beverages and crave-worthy food in more than 800 coffeehouses worldwide. Since opening our first location in 1992, we’ve been committed to building personal connections in every experience. This desire drives our dedication to supporting our communities and crafting menu items with premium ingredients like specialty-grade coffee and real chocolate chips in our handcrafted beverages. Focused on smart growth, we operate and franchise coffeehouses across 11 countries, with the purpose of creating day-making experiences that spark a chain reaction of good.
Caribou Coffee is part of Panera Brands, alongside Panera Bread® and Einstein Bros.® Bagels. To learn more, visit cariboucoffee.com, follow Caribou Coffee on social media, or download the Caribou Coffee app to join Caribou Perks and start earning rewards.