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MONTEBELLO, CALIF. -- The Wilbur Curtis Company—one of the world’s leading commercial coffee brewing manufacturers—is celebrating its 80th anniversary, commemorating eight decades of superior coffee brewing.

The Curtis brand was launched in 1941 in a small Hollywood, California, facility. On a mission to create the perfect cup of coffee, Curtis quickly built a reputation for excellence in manufacturing coffee brewing equipment. Fueled by a growing line of products and successful sales, Curtis soon expanded with commercial accounts across the country. Through the brand’s constant quest for helping customers make a more satisfying cup of coffee, the company grew into a thriving multi-million-dollar operation with customers around the world.

Attracted by the company’s impressive growth and stellar reputation, Groupe SEB acquired Curtis in early 2019. The union gave tech-savvy Curtis a fresh infusion of innovation, advanced engineering expertise, and even greater access to international markets. This acquisition has propelled the brand to the thriving foodservice manufacturing operation it is today.

“Curtis has a longstanding reputation for producing intelligently-engineered equipment,” says Emmanuel Couppey, Vice President of Marketing at SEB PROFESSIONAL North America. “Additionally, our strong connections to roasters, convenience store owners, foodservice operators and other key industry leaders enhance our global enterprise and potential to deliver the highest quality machines to foodservice channels across the globe.”

Behind the company’s innovation and craftsmanship is a motivation much harder to describe—a boundless pursuit for undeniable excellence. Even today, this passion is evident at the company’s Montebello, California headquarters, and is reflected by the large number of employees who have loyally been with the company for decades. Quite simply, Curtis associates love what they do and that love translates into the products they produce and sell.

This spirit of teamwork has helped Curtis thrive in a very competitive market by developing robust segment-specific brewing solutions that add greater productivity and profitability to restaurants, convenience stores, high-volume venues and roasters. For virtually any foodservice segment, Curtis provides a full line of intuitive, cost-effective and elegantly-designed systems that are the center of successful beverage programs. These products include the GemX line of satellite batch brewers, the recently introduced GemX Narrow brewer, the intuitive ThermoPro X thermal brewers, PCGT Cappuccino Machines, Iced Tea Brewers and most recently, the Genesis Bean-to-Cup Brewer.

In contrast to today’s supercharged, rise-and-fall business lifecycle, Curtis has made a name for itself with its steady, unstoppable climb to industry prominence and prestige. And the company isn’t done yet. Curtis is poised to introduce exciting new equipment in the coming months and years that will continue to propel the company into new foodservice markets and provide operators with new and exciting ways to profit.

“Curtis is all about drive, innovation, team spirit and a global mindset,” Couppey says. “Now powered by SEB PROFESSIONAL North America, these qualities will continue driving our company to a bright future with limitless possibilities.”

About The Wilbur Curtis Company

The Wilbur Curtis Company is an internationally recognized leader in the design and manufacture of innovative commercial coffee and tea brewing systems, and specialty drink dispensers.

About SEB PROFESSIONAL North America

At SEB Professional North America, our passion for coffee fuels millions of people as they take on their day. Through our three brands – WMF, Schaerer, and Curtis - we support both commercial and non-commercial foodservice industry, as well as convenience retailing, grocery, and more. As the Market Leader in premium automated coffee and espresso solutions, as well as drip coffee, we combine big ideas with innovation. We work to solve the most pressing problems in our industry by building the highest quality coffee brewing equipment and couple our equipment with tailor-made service solutions to address each of our customer's needs. Our job is to make your job - creating memorable coffee experiences for your customers - easy. Here, at SEB Professional North America, it’s not just a cup of coffee; it is countless hands building, thinking, and creating that sparks passion for coffee around the world.