Orange County Register

Updated 6 p.m.: Adds comment/statement from Diedrich.

Diedrich Coffee Chief executive Stephen V. Coffey confirmed late Thursday that he has resigned from the Irvine coffee roasting company.

In a memo released to The Orange County Register this afternoon, Coffey said it was time for him to leave now that Diedrich has repositioned itself as a coffee roaster. In late 2006, Coffey lead the effort to scrap a bulk of the Diedrich Coffee cafes in Orange County. Many of them were sold to Starbucks in a move that remains a sore spot for many Diedrich coffee lovers.

“With the successful turnaround and repositioning of the company well underway, the time is right for me to turn over the reins and pursue various other business opportunities,” Coffey stated.

Coffey has been CEO of Diedrich Coffee since December 2005. At the time, the company had been struggling with underperforming retail stores.

Coffey will be replaced by J. Russell Phillips, who has served on the Diedrich Board of Directors since April 2007.

Diedrich Chief financial officer Sean McCarthy confirmed Coffey’s resignation. However, he declined to comment further, until an official announcement is made later today.

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At 5:30 p.m. Diedrich posted its official announcement on its website. Chairman Paul Heeschen thanked Coffey for his strong leadership over the last two years.

“I believe he has successfully changed the direction of the Company and put it on track to achieve profitability,” said Heeschen stated. “Steve was the driving force of both the strategy and execution in the shift of the company’s focus from our unprofitable retail coffeehouse operations to that of being a wholesale roaster of branded specialty coffees.”

To read more, click here.

Related links:

• Diedrich sells O.C. cafes to Starbucks
• Diedrich cafes performing well

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