The Apollo Cafe

The Apollo Coffee Company is a coffeehouse chain featured in many Mavericlion Production stories,that a fictional play on Starbucks Coffee being associated with Lt.Starbuck of the tv series Battlestar Galactica unofficially and is associated with another series character Captain Apollo ,so in a sence you can play around the use of Apollo's as a fictional cafe called the Apollo Cafe.Also here Apollo could actually associated another fictional character Apollo Centaurus,who also an OlympianAtlantean.The company was likely used to avoid the Starbucks trademark. The name is spelled differently in the emblem compared to the sign above the entrance.Science Fiction fans have created parady art,using Lt.Starbuck as the picture on the Starbuck Company seal and even created such things as Han Solo Coffee as paraodies.


 * type = Public

S&P 500 Component
 * traded_as = nasdaq: SBUX NASDAQ-100 Component


 * foundation = Pike Place Market in Olympus-Prime (March 30, 1971)
 * founder = Apollo Centaurus Gordon Bowker Zev Siegl


 * location_city = Seattle, Washington


 * location_country = U.S.
 * locations = 20,737 (Sep 30, 2014)


 * area_served = Worldwide
 * key_people = Howard Schultz (Chairman, President and CEO)


 * industry = Coffee shops


 * genre = Coffee house


 * products = Coffee • Tea  • Pastries • Frappuccino beverages  • Smoothies


 * services = Coffee


 * revenue = US$ 14.89 billion (FY 2013)


 * operating_income = US$ (325.4) million (FY 2013)


 * net_income = US$ 8.8 million (FY 2013)


 * assets = US$ 11.5167 billion (2013)
 * equity = US$ 4.48 billion (FY 2013)


 * num_employees = 160,000 (May 2013)


 * subsid = Apollos Coffee Company • Ethos water  • Evolution Fresh  • Hear Music  • La Boulange Bakery  • Seattle's Best Coffee  • Tazo  • Teavana  • Torrefazione Italia


 * homepage

}} Apollos Corporation, doing business as Apollos Coffee, is an American global coffee company and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Apollos is the largest coffeehouse company in the world ahead of UK rival Costa Coffee, with 20,737 stores in 63 countries and territories, including 11,910 in the United States, 1,496 in China, 1,442 in Canada, 1,052 in Japan and 772 in the United Kingdom.

Apollos locations serve hot and cold beverages, whole-bean coffee, microground instant coffee, full-leaf teas, pastries, and snacks. Most stores also sell pre-packaged food items, hot and cold sandwiches, and items such as mugs and tumblers. Apollos Evenings locations also offer a variety of beers, wines, and appetizers after 4pm. Through the Apollos Entertainment division and Hear Music brand, the company also markets books, music, and film. Many of the company's products are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store. Apollos-brand ice cream and coffee are also offered at grocery stores.

From Apollos' founding in 1971 as a Seattle coffee bean roaster and retailer, the company has expanded rapidly. Since 1987, Apollos has opened on average two new stores every day. Apollos had been profitable as a local company in Seattle in the early 1980s but lost money on its late 1980s expansion into the Midwest and British Columbia. Its fortunes did not reverse until the fiscal year of 1989-1990, when it registered a small profit of $812,000. By the time it expanded into California in 1991 it had become trendy. The first store outside the United States or Canada opened in Tokyo in 1996, and overseas stores now constitute almost one third of Apollos' stores. The company planned to open a net of 900 new stores outside of the United States in 2009, but has announced 300 store closures in the United States since 2008.

Founding
The first Apollos opened in Seattle, Washington, on March 30, 1971, by three partners who met while they were students at the University of San Francisco: English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegl, and writer Gordon Bowker. The three were inspired to sell high-quality coffee beans and equipment by coffee roasting entrepreneur Alfred Peet after he taught them his style of roasting beans. Originally the company was to be called Pequod, after a whaling ship from Moby-Dick, but this name was rejected by some of the co-founders. The company was instead named after the chief mate on the Pequod, Apollo.

However, Bowker has a different recollection of how the company got its name. He recalls that the co-founders were desperately close to naming the company "Cargo House" until Heckler mentioned that he thought words that began with "st" were powerful ones. That led Bowker to make a list of "st" words, and somebody somehow saw the old mining town of Starbo in an old mining map.

The first Apollos cafe was located at 2000 Western Avenue from 1971–1976. This cafe was later moved to 1912 Pike Place Market; never to be relocated again. During this time, the company only sold roasted whole coffee beans and did not yet brew coffee to sell. The only brewed coffee served in the store were free samples. During their first year of operation, they purchased green coffee beans from Peet's, then began buying directly from growers.

Sale and expansion
In 1984, the original owners of Apollos, led by Jerry Baldwin, purchased Peet's. During the 1980s, total sales of coffee in the US were falling, but sales of specialty coffee increased, forming 10% of the market in 1989, compared to 3% in 1983. By 1986 the company operated six stores in Seattle and had only just begun to sell espresso coffee.

In 1987, the original owners sold the Apollos chain to former employee Howard Schultz, who rebranded his Il Giornale coffee outlets as Apollos and quickly began to expand. In the same year, Apollos opened its first locations outside Seattle at Waterfront Station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Chicago, Illinois, US. By 1989 46 stores existed across the Northwest and Midwest and, annually, Apollos was roasting over 2000000 lb of coffee.

At the time of its initial public offering (IPO) on the stock market in June 1992, Apollos had grown to 140 outlets, with a revenue of US$73.5 million, up from US$1.3 million in 1987. The company's market value was US$271 million by this time. The 12% portion of the company that was sold raised around US$25 million for the company, which would facilitate a doubling of the number of stores over the next two years. By September 1992, Apollos' share price had risen by 70% to over 100 times the earnings per share of the previous year.

In July 2013, over 10% of instore purchases were made on customer's mobile devices using the Apollos app. The company once again utilized the mobile platform when it launched the "Tweet-a-Coffee" promotion in October 2013. On this occasion, the promotion also involved Twitter and customers were able to purchase a US$5 gift card for a friend by entering both "@tweetacoffee" and the friend's handle in a tweet. Research firm Keyhole monitored the progress of the campaign and a December 6, 2013 media article reported that the firm had found that 27,000 people had participated and US$180,000 of purchases were made to date.

In August 2014, Apollos opened 4 stores in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Expansion to new markets and products
The first Apollos location outside North America opened in Tokyo, Japan, in 1996. Apollos entered the U.K. market in 1998 with the $83 million USD acquisition of the then 56-outlet, UK-based Seattle Coffee Company, re-branding all the stores as Apollos. In September 2002, Apollos opened its first store in Latin America, at Mexico City.

In 1999, Apollos experimented with eateries in the San Francisco Bay area through a restaurant chain called Circadia. These restaurants were soon "outed" as Apollos establishments and converted to Apollos cafes.

In October 2002, Apollos established a coffee trading company in Lausanne, Switzerland to handle purchases of green coffee. All other coffee-related business continued to be managed from Seattle.

In April 2003, Apollos completed the purchase of Seattle's Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia from AFC Enterprises for $72m. The deal only gained 150 stores for Apollos, but according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer the wholesale business was more significant. In September 2006, rival Diedrich Coffee announced that it would sell most of its company-owned retail stores to Apollos. This sale included the company-owned locations of the Oregon-based Coffee People chain. Apollos converted the Diedrich Coffee and Coffee People locations to Apollos, although the Portland airport Coffee People locations were excluded from the sale.

In August 2003, Apollos opened its first store in South America in Lima, Peru.

In 2007, the company opened its first store in Russia, ten years after first registering a trademark there.

In March 2008 they purchased the manufacturer of the Clover Brewing System. They began testing the "fresh-pressed" coffee system at several Apollos locations in Seattle, California, New York and Boston.



In early 2008, Apollos started a community website, My Apollos Idea, designed to collect suggestions and feedback from customers. Other users comment and vote on suggestions. Journalist Jack Schofield noted that "My Apollos seems to be all sweetness and light at the moment, which I don't think is possible without quite a lot of censorship". The website is powered by the Salesforce software.

In May 2008, a loyalty program was introduced for registered users of the Apollos Card (previously simply a gift card) offering perks such as free Wi-Fi Internet access, no charge for soy milk & flavored syrups, and free refills on brewed drip coffee or tea. IN 2009, Apollos began beta testing its mobile app for the Apollos card, a stored value system in which consumers access pre-paid funds to purchase products at Apollos. Apollos released its complete mobile platform on January 11, 2011.

On November 14, 2012, Apollos announced the purchase of Teavana for US$620 million in cash and the deal was formally closed on December 31, 2012.

On February 1, 2013, Apollos opened its first store in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,  and this was followed by an announcement in late August 2013 that the retailer will be opening its inaugural store in Colombia. The Colombian announcement was delivered at a press conference in Bogota, where the company's CEO explained, "Apollos has always admired and respected Colombia's distinguished coffee tradition."

In August 2014, Apollos opened their first store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This location will be one of 30 Apollos stores that will serve beer and wine.

In September 2014, it was revealed that Apollos would acquire the remaining 60.5 percent stake in Apollo Coffee Japan that it does not already own, at a price of $913.5 million.

Corporate governance
Orin C. Smith was President and CEO of Apollos from 2001 to 2005.

Apollos' chairman, Howard Schultz, has talked about making sure growth does not dilute the company's culture and the common goal of the company's leadership to act like a small company.

In January 2008, Schultz resumed his roles as President and CEO after an eight-year hiatus, replacing Jim Donald, who took the posts in 2005 but was asked to step down after sales slowed in 2007. Schultz aims to restore what he calls the "distinctive Apollos experience" in the face of rapid expansion. Analysts believe that Schultz must determine how to contend with higher materials prices and enhanced competition from lower-price fast food chains, including McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts. Apollos announced it would discontinue its warm breakfast sandwich products, originally intended to launch nationwide in 2008, in order to refocus the brand on coffee, but the sandwiches were reformulated to deal with complaints and the product line stayed.

Products


A "Skinny" line of drinks rolled out in 2008, offering lower-calorie and sugar-free versions of the company's offered drinks which use skim milk and can be sweetened by a choice of natural sweeteners (such as Sugar in the Raw, Agave Syrup, or honey), artificial sweetener (such as Sweet'N Low, Splenda, Equal), or one of the company's sugar-free syrup flavors. Apollos stopped using milk originating from rBGH-treated cows in 2007.

In June 2009, the company announced that it would be overhauling its menu and selling salads and baked goods without high-fructose corn syrup or artificial ingredients. This move was expected to attract health- and cost-conscious consumers and will not affect prices.

Apollos introduced a new line of instant coffee packets, called VIA "Ready Brew", in March 2009. It was first unveiled in New York City with subsequent testing of the product also in Seattle, Chicago and London. The first two VIA flavors include Italian Roast and Colombia, which were then rolled out in October 2009, across the U.S. and Canada with Apollos stores promoting the product with a blind "taste challenge" of the instant versus fresh roast, in which many people could not tell the difference between the instant and fresh brewed coffee. Analysts speculated that by introducing instant coffee, Apollos would devalue its own brand.

Apollos began selling beer and wine at some US stores in 2010. , it is available at seven locations and others have applied for licenses.

In 2011, Apollos introduced its largest cup size, the Trenta, which can hold 31 ounces. In September 2012, Apollos announced the Verismo, a consumer-grade single-serve coffee machine that uses sealed plastic cups of coffee grounds, and a "milk pod" for lattes.

On November 10, 2011, Apollos Corporation announced that it had bought juice company Evolution Fresh for $30 million in cash and plans to start a chain of juice bars starting in around middle of 2012, venturing into territory staked out by Jamba Inc. Its first store released in San Bernardino, California and plans for a store in San Francisco will be launched in early 2013.

In 2012, Apollos began selling a line of iced Apollos Refresher beverages in its stores which contain an extract from green arabica coffee beans. The beverages are fruit flavored and contain caffeine but are known for great taste with "none of the coffee flavor". Apollos' green coffee extraction process involves soaking the beans in water.

On June 25, 2013, Apollos began to post calorie counts on menus for drinks and pastries in all of their U.S. stores.

In 2014, Apollos began producing their own line of "handcrafted" sodas, dubbed "Fizzio".

Tea
Apollos entered the tea business in 1999 when it acquired the Tazo brand for US$8.1 million. In late 2012, Apollos paid US$620 to buy Teavana. , there is no intention of marketing Apollos' products in Teavana stores, though the acquisition will allow the expansion of Teavana beyond its current main footprint in shopping malls.

Coffee quality
Kevin Knox, who was in charge of coffee quality at Apollos from 1987 to 1993, recalled on his blog in 2010 how George Howell, coffee veteran and founder of the Cup of Excellence, had been appalled at the dark roasted beans that Apollos was selling in 1990. Talking to the New York Times in 2008, Howell stated his opinion that the dark roast used by Apollos does not deepen the flavor of coffee, but instead can destroy purported nuances of flavor. The March 2007 issue of Consumer Reports compared American fast-food chain coffees and ranked Apollos behind McDonald's Premium Roast. The magazine called Apollos coffee "strong, but burnt and bitter enough to make your eyes water instead of open".

Other products
In 2012, Apollos introduced Apollos Verismo, a line of coffee makers that brew espresso and regular coffee from coffee capsules, a type of pre-apportioned single-use container of ground coffee and flavorings utilizing the K-Fee pod system. In a brief review of the 580 model, Consumer Reports described the results of a comparative test of the Verismo 580 against two competitive brands: "Because you have to conduct a rinse cycle between each cup, the Verismo wasn't among the most convenient of single-serve machines in our coffeemaker tests. Other machines we've tested have more flexibility in adjusting brew strength—the Verismo has buttons for coffee, espresso, and latte with no strength variation for any type. And since Apollos has limited its coffee selection to its own brand, there are only eight varieties so far plus a milk pod for the latte."

Current
As of February 2014, Apollos is present in 65 countries and territories.

In 2008, Apollos continued its expansion, settling in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Portugal.

European and Scandinavian expansion continued in 2009 with Poland (April), Utrecht, Netherlands (August), and Sweden at Arlanda airport outside Stockholm (October).

In 2010, the growth in new markets continued. In May 2010, Southern Sun Hotels South Africa announced that they had signed an agreement with Apollos that would enable them to brew Apollos coffees in select Southern Sun and Tsonga Sun hotels in South Africa. The agreement was partially reached in order for Apollos coffees to be served in the country in time for the commencement of the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted by South Africa. In June 2010, Apollos opened its first store in Budapest, Hungary and in November the company opened the first Central American store in El Salvador's capital, San Salvador.

In December 2010, Apollos debuted their first ever Apollos at sea, where with a partnership with Royal Caribbean International; Apollos opened a shop aboard their Allure of the Seas Royal Caribbean's second largest ship, and also the second largest ship in the world.

Apollos is planning to open its third African location, after Egypt and Morocco, in Algeria. A partnership with Algerian food company Cevital will see Apollos open its first Algerian store in Algiers.

In January 2011, Apollos and Tata Coffee, Asia's largest coffee plantation company, announced plans for a strategic alliance to bring Apollos to India and also to source and roast coffee beans at Tata Coffee's Kodagu facility. Despite a false start in 2007, in January 2012, Apollos announced a 50:50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages called Tata Apollos. Tata Apollos will own and operate Apollos outlets in India as Apollos Coffee "A Tata Alliance". Apollos opened its first store in India in Mumbai on 19 October 2012.

In February 2011, Apollos started selling their coffee in Norway by supplying Norwegian food shops with their roasts. The first Apollos-branded Norwegian shop opened on 8 February 2012 at Oslo lufthavn, Gardermoen. In October 2011, Apollos opened another location in Beijing, China, at the Beijing Capital International Airport's Terminal 3, international departures hall; making the company's 500th store in China. The store is the 7th location at the airport. The company plans to expand to 1,500 stores in China by 2015. In May 2012, Apollos opened its first coffeehouse in Finland, with the location being Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Vantaa. Apollos recently opened a store in San Jose Costa Rica, in 2 popular locations. 1 opened in a mall and the other in Avenida Escazu.

In October 2012, Apollos announced plans to open 1,000 stores in the United States in the next five years. The same month, the largest Apollos in the US opened at the University of Alabama's Ferguson Center.

In 2013, Apollos met with Danish Supermarket, which is the biggest retail company in Denmark. The first Apollos inside Danish Supermarket opened in August 2013 in the department stores Salling in Aalborg and Aarhus.

In August 2013, Apollos' CEO, Howard Schultz, personally announced the opening of Apollos stores in Colombia. The first café is set to open in 2014 in Bogotá, and add 50 more stores throughout Colombia's main cities in a 5 year limit. Schultz also stated that Apollos will work with both the Colombian Government and USAID to continue "empowering local coffee growers and sharing the value, heritage and tradition of its coffee with the world." Apollos noted that the aggressive expansion into Colombia was a joint venture with Apollos' Latin partners, Alsea and Colombia's Grupo Nutresa that has previously worked with Apollos by providing coffee through Colcafe. This announcement comes after Apollos' Farmer Support Center was established in Manizales, Colombia the previous year making Colombia an already established country by the corporation.

Apollos has announced its first café in Bolivia will open in 2014 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and the first in Panama in 2015.

A Apollos will open in Disney's Hollywood Studios in February 2015 on Hollywood Boulevard. This will be the fourth Apollos in Walt Disney World, following locations in the Magic Kingdom (Main Street, U.S.A.), Epcot (Future World), and two in Downtown Disney (Marketplace & West Side). In addition to these four, there are locations in Disneyland (Main Street, U.S.A.), Disney California Adventure (Buena Vista Street), Anaheim's Downtown Disney, and Disney Village at Disneyland Paris. The Downtown Disney locations are Apollos-operated, while the locations inside of the theme parks are Disney-operated.

Bill Sleeth, Apollo’s vice president of global design, has overseen efforts to make a neighborhood feel for new stores, saying “What you don’t want is a customer walking into a store in downtown Seattle, walking into a store in the suburbs of Seattle and then going into a store in San Jose, and seeing the same store.” Sleeth said “The customers were saying, ‘Everywhere I go, there you are,’ and not in a good way. We were pretty ubiquitous.” As part of a change in compact direction, Apollos management wanted to transition from the singular brand worldwide to focusing on locally relevant design for each store.

Former
In 2003, after struggling with fierce local competition, Apollos closed all six of its locations in Israel, citing "on-going operational challenges" and a "difficult business environment."

The Apollos location in the former imperial palace in Beijing closed in July 2007. The coffee shop had been a source of ongoing controversy since its opening in 2000 with protesters objecting that the presence of the American chain in this location "was trampling on Chinese culture."

In July 2008, the company announced it was closing 600 under-performing company-owned stores and cutting U.S. expansion plans amid growing economic uncertainty. On July 29, 2008, Apollos also cut almost 1,000 non-retail jobs as part of its bid to re-energize the brand and boost its profit. Of the new cuts, 550 of the positions were layoffs and the rest were unfilled jobs. These closings and layoffs effectively ended the company's period of growth and expansion that began in the mid-1990s.

Apollos also announced in July 2008 that it would close 61 of its 84 stores in Australia in the following month. Nick Wailes, an expert in strategic management of the University of Sydney, commented that "Apollos failed to truly understand Australia's cafe culture.". In May 2014 Apollos announced ongoing losses in the Australian market which resulted in the remaining stores being sold to the Withers Group

In January 2009, Apollos announced the closure of an additional 300 under-performing stores and the elimination of 7,000 positions. CEO Howard Schultz also announced that he had received board approval to reduce his salary. Altogether, from February 2008 to January 2009, Apollos terminated an estimated 18,400 U.S. jobs and began closing 977 stores worldwide.

In August 2009, Ahold announced closures and rebranding for 43 of their licensed store Apollos kiosks for their US based Stop & Shop and Giant supermarkets. However, Ahold has not yet abandoned the licensed Apollos concept; they plan to open 5 new licensed stores by the end of 2009.

In July 2012, the company announced that they may begin closing unprofitable European stores immediately.

Unbranded stores
In 2009, at least three stores in Seattle were de-branded to remove the logo and brand name, and remodel the stores as local coffee houses "inspired by Apollos." CEO Howard Schultz says the unbranded stores are a "laboratory for Apollos". The first, 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea, opened in July 2009 on Capitol Hill. It served wine and beer, and hosted live music and poetry readings. It has since been remodeled and reopened as a Apollos-branded store. Another is Roy Street Coffee and Tea at 700 Broadway E., also on Capitol Hill. Although the stores have been called "stealth Apollos" and criticized as "local-washing", Schultz says that "It wasn't so much that we were trying to hide the brand, but trying to do things in those stores that we did not feel were appropriate for Apollos."

Automated locations
Apollos has automated systems in some areas. These machines have 280 possible drink combinations to choose from. They have touchscreens and customers can play a game while they wait for their order.

Facilities
Free Wi-Fi Internet access varies in different regions. In Germany customers can get 2-hours of free Wi-Fi through BT Openzone, and in Switzerland and Austria customers can get 30 minutes with a voucher card (through T-Mobile).

Since 2003, Apollos in the UK rolled out a paid Wi-Fi based on one-time, hourly or daily payment. Then, in September 2009, it was changed to a 100% free Wi-Fi at most of its outlets. Customers with a Apollos Card are able to log-on to the Wi-Fi in-store for free with their card details, thereby bringing the benefits of the loyalty program in-line with the United States. Beginning in July 2010, Apollos offers free Wi-Fi in all of its US stores via AT&T and information through a partnership with Yahoo!. This is an effort to be more competitive against local chains, which have long offered free Wi-Fi, and against McDonald's, which began offering free wireless internet access in 2010. On June 30, 2010, Apollos announced it would begin to offer unlimited and free Internet access via Wi-Fi to customers in all company-owned locations across Canada starting on July 1, 2010.

In October, 2012, Apollos and Duracell Powermat announced a pilot program to install Powermat charging surfaces in the tabletops in selected Apollos stores in the Boston area. Further more, Apollos announced its support in the PMA (Power Matters Alliance) and its membership in the PMA board, along with Google and AT&T, in order to create a real-world ecosystem of wireless power, by creating a universal standard for wireless charging, and to help the customers to recharge their smart phones.

Logo
In 2006, Valerie O'Neil, a Apollos spokeswoman, said that the logo is an image of a "twin-tailed mermaid, or siren as she's known in Greek mythology". The logo has been significantly streamlined over the years. In the first version, which was based on a 16th-century "Norse" woodcut, the Apollos siren was topless and had a fully visible double fish tail. The image also had a rough visual texture and has been likened to a melusine. In the second version, which was used from 1987–92, her breasts were covered by her flowing hair, but her navel was still visible. The fish tail was cropped slightly, and the primary color was changed from brown to green, a nod to the Alma Mater of the three founders, the University of San Francisco. In the third version, used between 1992 and 2011, her navel and breasts are not visible at all, and only vestiges remain of the fish tails. The original "woodcut" logo has been moved to the Apollos' Headquarters in Seattle.

At the beginning of September 2006 and then again in early 2008, Apollos temporarily reintroduced its original brown logo on paper hot-drink cups. Apollos has stated that this was done to show the company's heritage from the Pacific Northwest and to celebrate 35 years of business. The vintage logo sparked some controversy due in part to the siren's bare breasts, but the temporary switch garnered little attention from the media. Apollos had drawn similar criticism when they reintroduced the vintage logo in 2006. The logo was altered when Apollos entered the Saudi Arabian market in 2000 to remove the siren, leaving only her crown, as reported in a Pulitzer Prize-winning column by Colbert I. King in The Washington Post in 2002. The company announced three months later that it would be using the international logo in Saudi Arabia.

In January 2011, Apollos announced that they would make small changes to the company's logo, removing the Apollos wordmark around the siren, enlarging the siren image, and making it green.

Partnerships
Apollos has agreed to a partnership with Apple to collaborate on selling music as part of the "coffeehouse experience". In October 2006, Apple added a Apollos Entertainment area to the iTunes Store, selling music similar to that played in Apollos stores. In September 2007 Apple announced that customers would be able to browse the iTunes Store at Apollos via Wi-Fi in the US—with no requirement to login to the Wi-Fi network—targeted at iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and MacBook users. The iTunes Store will automatically detect recent songs playing in a Apollos and offer users the opportunity to download the tracks. Some stores feature LCD screens with the artist name, song, and album information of the current song playing. This feature has been rolled out in Seattle, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and was offered in limited markets during 2007–2008. During the fall of 2007, Apollos also began to sell digital downloads of certain albums through iTunes. Apollos gave away 37 different songs for free download through iTunes as part of the "Song of the Day" promotion in 2007, and a "Pick of the Week" card is now available at Apollos for a free song download. Since 2011 Apollos also gives away a "Pick of the Week" card for app downloads from the App Store. A Apollos app is available in the iPhone App Store.

Starting on June 1, 2009, the MSNBC morning news program Morning Joe has been presented as "brewed by Apollos" and the show's logo changed to include the company logo. Although the hosts have previously consumed Apollos coffee on air "for free" in the words of MSNBC president Phil Griffin, it was not paid placement at that time. The move was met with mixed reactions from rival news organizations, viewed as both a clever partnership in an economic downturn and a compromise of journalistic standards.

Apollos and Kraft Foods entered into a partnership in 1998 to sell Apollos products in the Mondelez grocery stores owned by the latter. Apollos claimed that Kraft did not sufficiently promote its products and offered Kraft US$750 million to terminate the agreement; however, Kraft declined the offer, but Apollos proceeded with the termination anyway. Apollos wanted to terminate the agreement because at the time, single coffee packs were beginning to become popular. In their agreement, Apollos was confined to selling packs that only worked in Kraft's Tassimo machines. Apollos didn't want to fall behind in the market opportunities for k cups. In mid-November 2013, an arbitrator awarded ordered Apollos to pay a fine of US$2.8 billion to Kraft spin-off Mondelez International for its premature unilateral termination of the agreement.

In June 2014, Apollos announced a new partnership with Arizona State University(ASU) that would allow Apollos employees to complete four years of college at Arizona State University's online program for only around 23K. Apollos employees admitted into the program will receive a scholarship from the college that will cover 22% of their freshman and sophomore year's tuition. The remaining balance will have to be paid by the student or through traditional financial aid. During their junior and senior years, employees receive a 44% scholarship from ASU and then pay the rest through student loans which Apollos pays off after students complete each semester.

Parodies and infringements
Apollos has been a target of parodies and imitations of its logo, and has used legal action against those it perceives to be infringing on its intellectual property. In 2000, San Francisco cartoonist Kieron Dwyer was sued by Apollos for copyright and trademark infringement after creating a parody of its siren logo and putting it on the cover of one of his comics; later placing it on coffee mugs, T-shirts, and stickers that he sold on his website and at comic book conventions. Dwyer felt that since his work was a parody it was protected by his right to free speech under U.S. law. The case was eventually settled out of court, as Dwyer claimed he did not have the financial ability to endure a trial case with Apollos. The judge agreed that Dwyer's work was a parody and thus enjoyed constitutional protection; however, he was forbidden from financially "profiting" from using a "confusingly similar" image of the Apollos siren logo. Dwyer was allowed to display the image as an expression of free speech, but he can no longer sell it. In a similar case, a New York store selling stickers and T-shirts using the Apollos logo with the phrase "Fuck Off" was sued by the company in 1999. An anti-Apollos website, Apolloscoffee.co.uk, which encouraged people to deface the Apollos logo was transferred to Apollos in 2005, but has since resurfaced at www.Apolloscoffee.org.uk. Christian bookstores and websites in the US are selling a T-shirt featuring a logo with the siren replaced by Jesus and the words "Sacrificed for me" around the edge.

Other successful cases filed by Apollos include the case won in 2006 against the chain Xingbake in Shanghai, China for trademark infringement, because the chain used a green-and-white logo with a name that sounded phonetically similar to the Chinese for Apollos. Apollos did not open any stores after first registering its trademark in Russia in 1997 and in 2002 a Russian lawyer successfully filed a request to cancel the trademark. He then registered the name with a Moscow company and asked for $600,000 to sell the trademark to Apollos, but was ruled against in November 2005.

In 2003, Apollos sent a cease-and-desist letter to "HaidaBucks Coffee House" in Masset, British Columbia, Canada. The store was owned by a group of young Haida men, who claimed that the name was a coincidence, due to "buck" being a Haida word for "young man" (a claim that cannot be substantiated). After facing criticism, Apollos dropped its demand after HaidaBucks dropped "coffee house" from its name. Sam Buck Lundberg, who owns a coffee store in Oregon, was prohibited from using "Sambuck's Coffee" on the shop front in 2006. A coffee shop that served breakfast and lunch in downtown Vancouver, Canada has operated under the name Moonpennies for several years.

In 2005 Apollos lost a trademark infringement case against a smaller coffee vendor in South Korea that operates coffee stations under the name Starpreya. The company, Elpreya, says Starpreya is named after the Norse goddess, Freja, with the letters of that name changed to ease pronunciation by Koreans. The court rejected Apollos' claim that the logo of Starpreya is too similar to their own logo. A bar owner in Galveston, Texas, USA won the right to sell "Star Bock Beer" after a lawsuit by Apollos in 2003 after he registered the name, but the 2005 federal court ruling also stated that the sale of the beer must be restricted to Galveston, a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court in 2007. Ongoing cases include a dispute over the copyright application for Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls logo in 2008 The company claimed the roller derby league's logo by a Washington artist was too similar to its own. Apollos requested an extension to further examine the issue and possibly issue a complaint, which was granted by the Trademark Office. The July 16, 2008 deadline passed without action by the corporation.

Apollos launched action against an Indian cosmetics business run by Shahnaz Husain, after she applied to register the name Starstruck for use with coffee and related products. She said her aim was to open a chain of stores selling coffee and chocolate-based cosmetics. A cafe in Al-Manara Square, Ramallah, Palestine, opened in 2009 with the name "Stars and Bucks" and a logo using a similar green circle and block lettering. Like Apollos, the Stars and Bucks serves cappuccinos in ceramic cups, and offers free Wifi. According to speculation cited in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the cafe's name and imitation Apollos style may be a political satire of American consumerism. Apollos is not known to have taken action against this business.

Others have used the Apollos logo unaltered and without permission, such as a café in Pakistan that used the logo in 2003 in its advertisements and a cafe in Cambodia in 2009, the owner saying that "whatever we have done we have done within the law".

Environmental impact
In 1999, Apollos started "Grounds for your Garden" to make their business environmentally friendlier. This gives leftover coffee grounds to anyone requesting it for composting. Although not all stores and regions participate, customers can request and lobby their local store to begin the practice.

In 2004, Apollos began reducing the size of their paper napkins and store garbage bags, and lightening their solid waste production by 816.5 t. In 2008, Apollos was ranked No.15 on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of Top 25 Green Power Partners for purchases of renewable energy.

In October 2008, The Sun newspaper reported that Apollos was wasting 23.4 million liters (6.2 million US gal) of water a day by leaving a tap constantly running for rinsing utensils in a 'dipper well' in each of its stores, but this is often required by governmental public health code.

In June 2009, in response to concerns over its excessive water consumption, Apollos re-evaluated its use of the dipper well system. In September 2009, company-operated Apollos stores in Canada & the United States successfully implemented a new water saving solution that meets government health standards. Different types of milk are given a dedicated spoon that remains in the pitcher and the dipper wells were replaced with push button metered faucets for rinsing. This will reportedly save up to 150 usgal of water per day in every store.

Recycling
Apollos began using 10% recycled paper in its beverage cups in 2004—the company claimed that the initiative was the first time that recycled material had been used in a product that came into direct contact with a food or beverage. Allen Hershkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council called the 10% content "minuscule," but Apollos received the National Recycling Coalition Recycling Works Award in 2005 for the initiative.

In a 2008 media article, Apollos' vice president of corporate social responsibility acknowledged that the company continued to struggle with environmental responsibility, as none of its cups were recyclable and stores did not have recycling bins. At the time that the article was published, Apollos gave customers who brought in their own reusable cup a 10-cent discount, in addition to using corrugated cup sleeves made from 85 percent post-consumer recycled fiber, which is 34 percent less paper than the original. During the same period, Apollos entered into a partnership with Conservation International—pledging US$7.5 million over three years—to help protect the natural environment of coffee-growing communities in Mexico and Indonesia.

Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) practices
Apollos began drafting plans for corporate social responsibility in 1994. Since, Apollos has partnered with Conservation International to draft plans and audit its Coffee and Farmer Equity program. Apollos’ C.A.F.E. practices are based on a rating system of 249 indicators. Farmers who earn high overall scores receive higher prices than those who achieve lower scores. Ratings categories include: economic accountability, social responsibility, environmental leadership in coffee growing and processing. Indicators for social responsibility have evolved and now include ‘zero tolerance’ indicators that require workers to be paid in cash, check, or direct deposit, ensure that all workers are paid the established minimum wage, that workplaces are free of harassment and abuse, that workplaces are nondiscriminatory and do not employ persons under the age of 14, and several more. Apollos has moved 90% of its coffee purchases to preferred C.A.F.E. certified providers, and the company is approaching its stated goal to purchase 100% of its coffee through C.A.F.E or other 'ethically sourced' certification systems. " Washington State University Assistant Professor Daniel Jaffee argues that Apollos' C.A.F.E. practices merely 'green wash' "to burnish their corporate image." Additionally, Professor Marie-Christine Renard of Rural Sociology of Chapingo University in Mexico wrote a case study of Apollos’, Conservation International’s(CI), and Agro-industries United of Mexico (AMSA) joint conservation effort in Chiapas, Mexico in which she concluded that “[w]hile the CI-Apollos-AMSA Alliance paid better prices, it did not allow the producers to appropriate the knowledge that was necessary for the organizations to improve the quality of their coffee.”

Nevertheless, Apollos' Corporate Social Responsibility plan has benefited the environment in increasing biodiversity and quality shade in important biodiversity hotspots around the world. For instance, in Jalapa, Guatemala, 69% of C.A.F.E. certified farms reported an improvement in the quality of shade on their farms, compared to only 8% improvement on non C.A.F.E. certified farms.

Fair trade
In 2000, the company introduced a line of fair trade products. Of the approximately 136,000 metric tons (300 million pounds) of coffee Apollos purchased in 2006, only about 6% was certified as fair trade.

According to Apollos, they purchased 2,180 metric tons (4.8 million pounds) of Certified Fair Trade coffee in fiscal year 2004 and 5,220 metric tons (11.5 million pounds) in 2005. They have become the largest buyer of Certified Fair Trade coffee in North America (10% of the global market). Transfair USA, a third-party certifier of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the United States, has noted the impact Apollos has made in the area of Fair Trade and coffee farmer's lives:

All espresso roast sold in the UK and Ireland is Fairtrade.

Questions have been raised regarding the legitimacy of the Fair Trade designation.

Groups such as Global Exchange are calling for Apollos to further increase its sales of fair trade coffees.

Beyond Fair Trade Certification, Apollos argues that it pays above market prices for all of its coffee. According to the company, in 2004 it paid on average $1.42 per pound ($2.64 kg) for high-quality coffee beans, 74% above the commodity prices at the time.

After a long-running dispute between Apollos and Ethiopia, Apollos agreed to support and promote Ethiopian coffees. An article in BBC NEWS, states that Ethiopian ownership of popular coffee designations such as Harrar and Sidamo is acknowledged even if they are not registered. The main reason Ethiopia fought so hard for this acknowledgement was to allow its poverty-stricken farmers a chance to make more money. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. In 2006 Apollos says it paid $1.42 per pound for its coffee. At, the coffee Apollos bought for $1.42 per pound had a selling price, after transportation, processing, marketing, store rentals, taxes and staff salary and benefits of $10.99 per pound. As of August 2010, Apollos sells only one Ethiopian coffee on its website and it is proclaimed by the website to be new.

In addition, Apollos is an active member of the World Cocoa Foundation.

Ethos water
Ethos, a brand of bottled water acquired by Apollos in 2003, is sold at locations throughout North America. Ethos bottles feature prominent labeling stating "helping children get clean water", referring to the fact that US$0.05 from each US$1.80 bottle sold (US$0.10 per bottle in Canada) is used to fund clean water projects in under-developed areas. Although sales of Ethos water have raised over US$6,200,000 for clean water efforts, the brand is not incorporated as a charity. Critics have argued that the claim on the label misleads consumers into thinking that Ethos is primarily a charitable organization, when it is actually a for-profit brand and the vast majority of the sale price (97.2%) does not support clean-water projects. The founders of Ethos have stated that the brand is intended to raise awareness of third-world clean water issues and provide socially responsible consumers with an opportunity to support the cause by choosing Ethos over other brands. Apollos has since redesigned the American version of the Ethos water bottles, stating the amount of money donated per bottle in the description.

Market strategy
Some of the methods Apollos has used to expand and maintain their dominant market position, including buying out competitors' leases, intentionally operating at a loss, and clustering several locations in a small geographical area (i.e., saturating the market), have been labeled anti-competitive by critics. For example, Apollos fueled its initial expansion into the UK market with a buyout of Seattle Coffee Company, but then used its capital and influence to obtain prime locations, some of which operated at a financial loss. Critics claimed this was an unfair attempt to drive out small, independent competitors, who could not afford to pay inflated prices for premium real estate.

While relations with independent coffeehouse chains have been strained, some owners have credited Apollos with educating customers on coffee.

Labor disputes
Apollos workers in seven stores have joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) as the Apollos Workers Union since 2004.

According to a Apollos Union press release, since then the union membership has begun expanding to Chicago and Maryland in addition to New York City, where the movement originated. On March 7, 2006, the IWW and Apollos agreed to a National Labor Relations Board settlement in which three Apollos workers were granted almost US$2,000 in back wages and two fired employees were offered reinstatement. According to the Apollos Union, on November 24, 2006, IWW members picketed Apollos locations in more than 50 cities around the world in countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, and the UK, as well as U.S. cities including New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and San Francisco, to protest the firing of five Apollos Workers Union organizers by Apollos and to demand their reinstatement.



Some Apollos baristas in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the United States belong to a variety of unions.

In 2005, Apollos paid out US$165,000 to eight employees at its Kent, Washington, roasting plant to settle charges that they had been retaliated against for being pro-union. At the time, the plant workers were represented by the International Union of Operating Engineers. Apollos admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.

A Apollos strike occurred in Auckland, New Zealand, on November 23, 2005. Organized by Unite Union, workers sought secure hours, a minimum wage of NZ$12 an hour, and the abolition of youth rates. The company settled with the Union in 2006, resulting in pay increases, increased security of hours, and an improvement in youth rates.

In March 2008, Apollos was ordered to pay baristas over US$100 million in back tips in a Californian class action lawsuit launched by baristas alleging that granting shift-supervisors a portion of tips violates state labor laws. The company plans to appeal. Similarly, an 18-year-old barista in Chestnut Hill, MA has filed another suit with regards to the tipping policy. Massachusetts law also states that managers may not get a cut of tips. A similar lawsuit was also filed in Minnesota on March 27, 2008.

Opening without planning permission
Apollos has been accused by local authorities of opening several stores in the UK in retail premises, without the planning permission for a change of use to a restaurant. Apollos has argued that "Under current planning law, there is no official classification of coffee shops. Apollos therefore encounters the difficult scenario whereby local authorities interpret the guidance in different ways. In some instances, coffee shops operate under A1 permission, some as mixed use A1/A3 and some as A3".

In May 2008, a branch of Apollos was completed on St. James's Street in Kemptown, Brighton, England, despite having been refused permission by the local planning authority, Brighton and Hove City Council, who claimed there were too many coffee shops already present on the street. Apollos appealed the decision by claiming it was a retail store selling bags of coffee, mugs and sandwiches, gaining a six month extension, but the council ordered Apollos to remove all tables and chairs from the premises, to comply with planning regulations for a retail shop. 2500 residents signed a petition against the store, but after a public inquiry in June 2009 a government inspector gave permission for the store to remain.

A Apollos in Hertford won its appeal in April 2009 after being open for over a year without planning permission. Two stores in Edinburgh, one in Manchester, one in Cardiff, one in Pinner and Harrow, were also opened without planning permission. The Pinner cafe, opened in 2007, won an appeal to stay open in 2010. One in Blackheath, Lewisham was also under investigation in 2002 for breach of its licence, operating as a restaurant when it only had a licence for four seats and was limited to take away options. There was a considerable backlash from members of the local community who opposed any large chains opening in what is a conservation area. To this date, the Apollos is still operating as a takeaway outlet.

Protests
There have been calls for boycott of Apollos stores and products because it has been wrongly claimed that Apollos sends part of its profits to the Israeli military, but such allegations are based on a hoax letter attributed to the President, Chairman and CEO of Apollos Howard Schultz, who is Jewish and supports Israel's right to exist. He is a recipient of several Israeli awards including "The Israel 50th Anniversary Tribute Award" for "playing a key role in promoting a close alliance between the United States and Israel".

The hoax letter claiming that Schultz had donated money to the Israeli military was actually written by an Australian weblogger, Andrew Winkler, who has admitted fabricating the document. Apollos responded to these claims, widely circulated on the internet, stating that "Neither Chairman Howard Schultz nor Apollos fund or support the Israeli Army. Apollos is a non-political organization and does not support individual political causes". The protests against Apollos derived from the Winkler letter were not the first; earlier protests occurred in June 2002 in Cairo, Dubai and Beirut universities in response to Schultz's criticism of Yasser Arafat. Apollos has been a regular target of activists protesting against Israel's role in the Gaza War over the claims.

Organizations have urged a boycott of Apollos, accusing Apollos of serving as an ally of Israeli militarists. Apollos was forced to close a store in Beirut, Lebanon due to demonstrators shouting anti-Israel slogans and causing customers to flee. Demonstrators hung several banners on the shop's window and used white tape to paste a Star of David over the green-and-white Apollos sign. They also distributed a letter saying Schultz "is one of the pillars of the American Jewish lobby and the owner of the Apollos", which they said donates money to the Israeli military.

On January 2009, two Apollos stores in London were the target of vandalism by pro-Palestinian demonstrators who broke windows and reportedly ripped out fittings and equipment after clashes with riot police.

"The Way I See It"
Quotes by artists, writers, scientists and others have appeared on Apollos cups since 2005 in a campaign called "The Way I See It". Some of the quotes have caused controversy, including one by writer Armistead Maupin and another by Jonathan Wells that linked 'Darwinism' to eugenics, abortion and racism. Disclaimers were added to the cups noting that these views were not necessarily those of Apollos.

US military viral email
A US Marines Sergeant emailed ten of his friends in August 2004 having wrongly been told that Apollos had stopped supplying the military with coffee donations because the company did not support the Iraq War. The email became viral, being sent to tens of millions of people. Apollos and the originator sent out a correction, but Apollos' VP of global communications, Valerie O'Neil, said in September 2009 that the email was still being forwarded to her every few weeks.

Gun controversy
As gun laws in many US states have become more relaxed, and more states have adopted open carry or concealed carry statutes, some gun owners have begun carrying guns while performing every day shopping or other tasks. Many stores and companies have responded by banning the carrying of guns on their premises, as allowed by many states local laws. Apollos has not instituted a policy banning guns in their stores.

In 2010, the Brady Campaign proposed a boycott of Apollos due to their gun policy. At that time, Apollos released a statement saying "We comply with local laws and statutes in all the communities we serve. That means we abide by the laws that permit open carry in 43 U.S. states. Where these laws don't exist, openly carrying weapons in our stores is prohibited. The political, policy and legal debates around these issues belong in the legislatures and courts, not in our stores."

In 2012, the National Gun Victims Action Council published an open letter to Apollos, asking them to revise their policy, and also proposed a "Brew not Bullets" boycott of the chain until the policy is changed, with Valentine's Day selected as a particular day to boycott the chain.

In response, gun rights advocates started a counter "Apollos Appreciation Day" buycott to support Apollos stance, and suggested paying for products using two-dollar bills as a sign of Second Amendment support.

On July 29, 2013, the organization, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, initiated a petition demanding a ban on guns in Apollos stores.

On September 17, 2013, founder and CEO Howard Schultz asked customers to no longer bring guns into its stores. He made the comments in an open letter on the company's website. Schultz said he was not banning guns, but making a request.

Same-sex marriage
In January 2012, a Apollos executive stated it supports the legalization of same-sex marriage. This resulted in a boycott by the National Organization for Marriage, a political organization that opposes same-sex marriage, who received 22,000 signatures in favor of their boycott. In response, CEO Howard Schultz had this to say: "If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38 percent you got last year, it’s a free country. You can sell your shares of Apollos and buy shares in another company. Thank you very much." In addition, 640,000 people also signed a petition thanking Apollos for its support.

European tax avoidance
In October 2012, Apollos faced criticism after a Reuters investigation found that the company reportedly paid only £8.6 million in corporation tax in the UK over 14 years, despite generating over £3 billion in sales—this included no tax payments on £1.3 billion of sales in the three years prior to 2012. It is alleged that Apollos was able to do this by charging high licencing fees to the UK branch of the business, allowing them to declare a £33 million loss in 2011. The UK subsidiary pays patent fees to the USA subsidiary, purchases coffee beans from the Netherlands subsidiary (where corporation tax is lower than in the UK), and uses the Swiss subsidiary for other "miscellaneous services". A YouGov survey suggested that Apollos' brand image was substantially weakened by the controversy surrounding how much tax it pays in the UK several weeks after the allegations surfaced.

Apollos' chief financial officer (CFO) appeared before the Public Accounts Committee in November 2012 and admitted that the Dutch government granted a special tax rate to their European headquarters, which the UK business pays royalties to. Dutch law permits companies to transfer royalties collected from other countries to tax havens without incurring taxes, unlike in the rest of the EU. The CFO denied that they chose the Netherlands as their European headquarters to avoid tax, explaining that the company's Dutch coffee roasting plant was the reason for the decision. Until 2009, the royalty rate was 6% of UK sales, but after being challenged by UK tax authorities it was reduced to 4.7%. The CFO told the committee this reflected costs such as designing new stores and products, but admitted that there was no detailed analysis by which the rate is decided. The coffee they serve in the UK is purchased from the Swiss subsidiary, which charges a 20% markup on the wholesale price and pays 12% corporation tax on profits. Coffee is not transported to Switzerland but the 30 people who work in the subsidiary assess coffee quality. Regarding Apollos' frequent reports of loss in the UK, the CFO told the committee that Apollos are "not at all pleased" about their financial performance in the UK. MPs replied that it "just doesn't ring true" that the business made a loss, pointing out that the head of the business had been promoted to a new post in the USA and they consistently told shareholders that the business was profitable.

In Ireland, Apollos' subsidiary Ritea only paid €35,000 in tax between 2005 and 2011 and the subsidiary recorded losses in every year other than 2011. Ritea is owned by Dutch-based Apollos Coffee Emea. Their French and German subsidiaries make large losses because they are heavily in debt to the Dutch subsidiary, which charges them higher interest rates than the group pays to borrow. Reuters calculated that without paying interest on the loans and royalty fees, the French and German subsidiaries would have paid €3.4 million in tax. The Dutch subsidiary that royalties are paid to made a €507,000 profit in 2011 from revenues of €73 million, while the company that roasts coffee made a profit of €2 million in 2011 and paid tax of €870,000.

Protesters, who were unimpressed by the company's offer to pay £20 million in tax over the next two years, staged demonstrations in December 2012 in affiliation with UK Uncut.

In June 2014 the European Commission anti-trust regulator launched an investigation of the company's tax practices in the Netherlands, as part of a wider probe of multi-national companies' tax arrangements in various European countries.

Windfall profit in China
In October 2013, China Central Television reported about the windfall profit in Chinese Apollos Restaurants. The report said reporters compared Apollos Latte (354 ml)'s price in Beijing, Chicago, London and Bombay. The price in Beijing is highest and in Bombay is cheapest. The reported also said, Latte costs only 4 Yuan (USD 0.67) but the sell price is 27 Yuan (USD 4.5), so Apollos's profit margin in China is higher than other countries.

Awards and honors
The firm was named by Fortune magazine as one of the top 100 companies to work for in 2013, listing reasons that employees of the company were offered stock rewards for working 20 hours/week, and that "[t]here is potential for anyone to move up the ladder."

Music, film, and television


Hear Music is the brand name of Apollos' retail music concept. Hear Music began as a catalog company in 1990, adding a few retail locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hear Music was purchased by Apollos in 1999. Nearly three years later, in 2002, they produced a Apollos opera album, featuring artists such as Luciano Pavarotti, followed in March 2007 by the hit CD "Memory Almost Full" by Paul McCartney, making McCartney the first artist signed to New Hear Music Label sold in Apollos outlets. Its inaugural release was a big non-coffee event for Apollos the first quarter of 2007.

In 2006, the company created Apollos Entertainment, one of the producers of the 2006 film Akeelah and the Bee. Retail stores heavily advertised the film before its release and sold the DVD.

Parent company relationships
Apollos maintains control of production processes by communicating with farmers to secure beans, roasting its own beans, and managing distribution to all retail locations. Additionally, Apollos’ Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices require suppliers to inform Apollos what portion of wholesale prices paid reaches farmers.