Business Insider/Jessica Tyler Bluestone Lane had a huge menu of coffee, tea, and fresh food.
- Bluestone Lane, a New York-based, Australian-inspired coffee chain, plans to expand to 100 locations over the next three years.
- The expansion comes with the help of Miami Dolphins owner and billionaire investor Stephen Ross.
- According to Bluestone Lane founder and CEO Nicholas Stone, who spoke with Bloomberg, the chain is focused on providing "more than simply a caffeinated product" and focuses just as much on aesthetic elements and freshly prepared food as it does on coffee.
Bluestone Lane is about to take over the United States.
The New York-based, Australian-inspired coffee chain is winning over millennials with the help of Instagram-ready restaurants and fresh, healthy foods like avocado toast and almond oatmeal.
Nicholas Stone, founder and CEO of Bluestone Lane, said in an interview with Bloomberg: "Millennial customers are discerning and focused on more than simply a caffeinated product. That's why Bluestone is focused on a providing a broader experience that includes service and aesthetic elements as well as freshly prepared food like avocado toast."
Bluestone Lane, which launched in 2013, currently has 30 locations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, and Washington, DC, and it plans to expand to 100 locations in the next three years.
The massive expansion project is funded in part by billionaire Stephen Ross, chairman of Related Cos. and owner of the Miami Dolphins, who recently participated in a $19.5 million funding round to acquire a minority stake in Bluestone Lane's business, Bloomberg reported. March Capital Partners' Jamie Montgomery, JAWS, and Apax Partners also contributed to the round.
This isn't the first small coffee chain that's won over investors - Ross' investment in Bluestone Lanes echoes Nestle's acquisition of the trendy Blue Bottle Coffee and Peet's Coffee's acquisitions of Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Intelligentsia, both of which started as small, independent coffee roasters and have since grown to see mainstream success.
See why Bluestone Lane is the next coffee chain poised to take over the US: