# Karl Strovink

> Karl Strovink is the CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee, the Oakland-born specialty roaster now owned by Nestlé. A Berkeley native with an MBA from MIT Sloan, he arrived in 2019 from a twelve-year run at Converse and has spent his tenure pushing Blue Bottle toward oat milk by default, instant espresso, zero-waste cafés, and aggressive expansion across Asia, all while protecting the brand's small-batch identity inside a thirty-billion-dollar coffee parent.

- **Role:** CEO at Blue Bottle Coffee
- **Organizations:** Blue Bottle Coffee, Converse, Boston Consulting Group, Gartner
- **From:** Berkeley, California, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Undergraduate degree, Vassar College, MBA, MIT Sloan School of Management
- **Known for:** Steered Blue Bottle through the pandemic without laying off a single barista, Doubled Blue Bottle's digital business after March 2020, Made oat milk the default in U.S. cafés; over 60% of customers stayed with it

## Career timeline

- **1995-1997** — Research Director at Gartner
- **1997-1999** — M&A Director at Gartner
- **2001** — Graduates from MIT Sloan with an MBA
- **2002-2008** — Principal at The Boston Consulting Group
- **2008-2019** — Twelve years at Converse in roles spanning Corporate Strategy, GM Canada, GM Direct-to-Consumer North America, and VP Global Retail
- **2019** — Joins Blue Bottle Coffee as COO and President, North America
- **2020** — Becomes CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee
- **2020** — Keeps all baristas on full pay through three months of pandemic café closures
- **2022** — Rolls out oat milk as the default option company-wide; launches instant Blue Bottle espresso
- **2023** — Featured speaker, MIT Sloan Alumni Online
- **2024-2026** — Leads continued expansion across Asia; pursues carbon-neutral and zero-waste café targets

## Achievements

- Steered Blue Bottle through the pandemic without laying off a single barista
- Doubled Blue Bottle's digital business after March 2020
- Made oat milk the default in U.S. cafés; over 60% of customers stayed with it
- Launched instant Blue Bottle espresso using Nestlé's R&D bench
- Drove continued café openings across Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong
- Championed carbon-neutral and zero-waste operational goals

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Spoke with Global Coffee Report on 2026 industry predictions
- **2025-09** — Detailed Blue Bottle's Asia expansion roadmap in Global Coffee Report

## Links

- Website: https://bluebottlecoffee.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-strovink-9852a517/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karlstrovink/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/bluebottlecoffee

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/karl-strovink
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-30