‘We serve love.’ Dutch Bros. Coffee celebrates Merced grand opening with eager customers

Merced’s new Dutch Bros. Coffee location at 2005 East Childs Avenue opened to a line of eager customers in their vehicles, wrapped around the building Friday morning.

Both loyal and news customers came out for the location’s opening at 5 a.m. to purchase beverages.

Amanda Flores, 32, of Modesto was one of the customers that stopped by the new location on its opening day.

“Their coffee is really great. It has a great taste and they just have a variety of different things off of the menu,” she said.

Other customers like 22-year-old UC Merced student Andrew Munguia stopped by the new location to try the coffee for the first time, after hearing his roommates swear that it’s the best coffee they’ve ever had.

“I mean I’m a big Starbucks fan, so I’m hoping for something right on par, something a little different,” Munguia said.

“I know they have crazy menus here so I’m really excited for something new.”

According to Operator Paul Fode, the new location is a fun place to hang out and will be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

“We always say that we serve love and coffee’s a byproduct of what we do,” said Fode.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from or who you are, we’re happy to serve and people seem to love that.”

This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 8:48 AM.