Christine Barone is the 2026 Restaurant Business Restaurant Leader of the Year. | Photo courtesy of Dutch Bros.
Christine Barone, who has helped Dutch Bros reclaim its status as one of the country’s premier growth chains while navigating a difficult market, is the 2026 Restaurant Business Restaurant Leader of the Year.
Along the way, Dutch Bros under Barone has helped establish beverages as a crucial area of restaurant industry growth. And the chain she operates has proven that strong customer service and corporate culture matters, even in a drive-thru-only setting.
The award will be presented at the Restaurant Leadership Conference, to be held April 19-22 in Phoenix.
Barone, who has both a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Harvard, spent time with Raymond James and Bain & Company before she took a job with Starbucks. She spent several years there and was later named CEO of the health-focused casual-dining chain True Food Kitchen.
She was lured to Dutch Bros in 2023 to serve as the company’s president and was soon thereafter named CEO as the chain’s sales and stock price started to stumble.
Dutch Bros (“bros,” not “brothers”) has been on a roll ever since. Same-store sales have increased each quarter since her arrival, including 5.7% in the third quarter of last year.
Profitability has soared. Net income in the first nine months of 2025 increased 85%.
Dutch Bros’ stock price has responded. The company’s stock price has more than doubled since Barone was named CEO, including 17% last year, when the average restaurant stock declined 16%.
Indeed, the company’s performance has come during a brutal period for the restaurant industry and the quick-service sector specifically, as consumers pressured by inflation and high menu prices have cut back on visits. External pressures like tariffs and high coffee prices have exacerbated these challenges.
And in California, where Dutch Bros has a heavy presence, limited-service chains were required to start paying at least $20 an hour to their workers, a spike that shocked much of the state’s industry.
Dutch Bros under Barone has shrugged all this off. The company has opened about 200 locations over the past two years, expanding aggressively into markets further east, including Florida. It now operates more than 1,000 shops as of the end of the third quarter.
It has established a strong presence in Texas at a time when many other chains eager to grow there have stumbled. The company has done this under Barone by reconfiguring the way it enters new markets, which has helped generate enthusiasm for its stores among local consumers.
But earning the title of Restaurant Leader of the Year takes more than just sales and profit success. And Dutch Bros, as much as any other chain, has shaken the restaurant industry with its success, demonstrating consumer demand for innovative beverages at all times of day.
Dutch Bros is not simply a coffee chain—it does not, in fact, sell drip coffee—but is a broad-based beverage concept. It is arguably the country’s first energy drink chain, thanks to its Rebel line of beverages. That has helped it earn customers throughout the day, rather than just in the morning.
Indeed: One of Barone’s biggest initiatives now is to expand its food offerings to boost sales in the morning.
Yet Dutch Bros, along with several other chains like 7 Brew, Scooters and Swig, have pushed the industry to think differently on beverages. Major restaurant chains McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell are all experimenting with broadly expanded beverage lineups.
More chains are offering energy drinks. And established players, including Dunkin’, are rethinking the way they market their beverages as they seek to cater to the type of customer currently flocking to Dutch Bros.
All this is more than enough to earn Barone, Dutch Bros CEO, the 2026 Restaurant Leader of the Year.
Barone joins an exclusive group of top-notch executives who have won the award, including Danny Meyer, Greg Flynn, Brian Niccol, Peter Cancro and last year’s winner, Brinker International CEO Kevin Hochman.
The Restaurant Leadership Conference is a sister company of Restaurant Business. For more information, visit here.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.
