Caribou Coffee Reviews

The previous version of CaribouCoffee was well-designed and worked great. The new version also works great but is far less useful, which seems to be because of decisions made at the corporate level. The big advantage of CaribouCoffee used to be you could order a drink, wait in your car at the curbside pick up point, and your drink would be brought out to you. It was convenient and efficient. CaribouCoffee would let you specify your car model and color so there was no confusion. The curbside option is no longer there. Instead, there are walk-in and drive-through options. Why do you need an app if you’re going to walk into the store? And the drive-through option just means you don’t have to hand them money, but you still have to sit in line. There have been two instances at my local store where I have ordered using CaribouCoffee , gotten in the drive-through line to let them know I placed an order on CaribouCoffee , and I was told to pull up to the curbside pick up location. At which point I was completely forgotten, and my drink was sitting there getting cold at the drive-through window. I had to get out of the car and go in and ask for it. The whole system does not work very well at all. Caribou should go back to having the curbside option.

I use CaribouCoffee on a daily basis and I find it extremely user friendly! There are, however areas for improvement. There are two things that I have run into while using CaribouCoffee that I feel could be updated/improved.

When a customer has racked up enough points for a certain item, instead of creating a new order to redeem, it would be nice if this feature were in the “quick re-order” as well :)

Lastly, I have made mobile orders and get to the store and they are closed! It would be great if mobile orders weren’t successful when the store is closed. Luckily, the store I go to on a regular basis has comped my drinks as I was able to show them I made the order and they knew they weren’t open because of some sort of technicality.

Update: I was finally able to add my credit card!!! My reward is gone, but I’m glad CaribouCoffee is usable now :) can’t wait to get my nitro mocha again 💕

I was excited to use CaribouCoffee and even more excited to find out I got a free drink reward after my first purchase in CaribouCoffee , but when I went to use the reward it kept saying my credit card information was invalid. That didn’t happen the first time I used CaribouCoffee so I thought it was an issue on my end, but all my information was correct and I even contacted my credit card company to make sure everything was okay. My boyfriend let me use his credit card for the purchase and CaribouCoffee rejected his information as well, which was when we knew it wasn’t an issue on our end. I’m sad I didn’t get to use my reward but basically if I can’t put my credit card information in, I can’t use CaribouCoffee at all. I tried restarting CaribouCoffee and restarting my phone and neither worked :( I really wanted Caribou Coffee today :/

I used to love using CaribouCoffee to place my orders. It was great being able to place my drink order and when I get to caribou have it be all ready to go. Until today. Today I placed built my order and even used a reward to get a free drink added funds to my card then placed my order. At first I wondered if it was really placed because it didn’t give me the normal screens when I was done, but they subtracted the points from my account for my free drink so I assumed it was placed. Half an hour later still waiting for my order at caribou only to find out it didn’t place my order. Very, very, very disappointing and no one at caribou could help me which was even more disappointing. They wouldn’t even honor my free drink which in CaribouCoffee said I redeemed and I showed but it didn’t do any good. We go to caribou often so it really ruins it for me especially with everything else going on in the country right now. Very sad and disappointed!! Beware this can happen and good luck to you if it does. Hopefully it turns out better for you than it did me!

Edit: is there a way to store gift card balances in CaribouCoffee ?? I only see a way to add credit cards.

I really like CaribouCoffee - super convenient! But one thing it is lacking is your history. When I load funds to my account it would be nice to be able to see the history of purchases using those funds for at least the last 10 visits or something.

One other idea would be to tie in the drive through wait time and put that on CaribouCoffee real time so you can see if your drive through wait would be 1 minute or 15 minutes at any given Caribou. That’s helpful (1) to let people know if they have time to grab a drink before they have to be somewhere (before getting stuck in a drive through line) and (2) can help people decide which Caribou they want to go to of one is less busy than the other.

CaribouCoffee is still not that user friendly.. I have tried twice now, once months ago but was quickly discouraged, and now this morning, to simply add my card information to your app since I do not have a rewards card... I did not think I needed one to be able to order. Both occasions I was given a pop up notification saying my information is invalid, so I am confused, as I am still holding my card, all information typed correctly.

The only other thing I have noticed, is searching items is not an easy task, I wanted to know what types of drinks you carried with bubbles. I had to google search it, as your app does not let you search by keywords. The next thing I tried was looking up sandwiches, I got one sandwich in the results. Disappointed.

I will never stop loving Caribou coffee, but I can’t promise I will bother with CaribouCoffee to try to order again. It’s merely a downloadable, scroll through menu at this point. I have no other use for it.

My hometown just got a Caribou and the location has quickly become my favorite place . I have been here almost every other day since they opened and finally became a Perks member (this was of course after I had already spent almost $100 at the location within 3 weeks !) 😁 I absolutely love coming here , the store is beautiful, they always have great drinks, wonderful food and snack choices, and a wonderful ambiance. I get so much work done here and they are so kind, friendly and beyond welcoming. They all work great together as a team and I love the energy here . I can confidently after moving from Minneapolis to Faribault two years ago, I have officially gone from a Starbucks person to a Caribou person and love it so much !

Yup, it’s good! After realizing I earned a free coffee, I ran (not really ran, come on it’s to early for that crap) to my local Caribou to get a Large Vanilla Latte. I come home sat on the couch and drank my delicious coffee, my very handsome siamese cat, named Harvey joined me. It was a great cup of coffee and it was a nice surprise to see I earned a free cup!
Ok, ok, this is super lame review but you get the point, it’s a good app. If I hadn’t got CaribouCoffee I would have never been so concerned with “checking in” with the nice barista and making sure I got credit for whatever I spent. Seriously, over the last 10 years I probably could have opened my own stand alone Caribou coffee shop AND yes the bagel company would be attached to it (I cant remember the name of those yummy bagels) Anyway, get the dang app!!!

I have visited over twenty Caribou Coffee locations mostly because of work. I work part time for two different car dealerships as a “RUNNER” taking people home, delivering parts and test driving cars. I like that the stores are different in size and treats and the way the insides are not the same. As oppose to going into other store chains where if you have been in one ... you have been in ALL of them because they are identical. The Caribou by me is a gold mine location with plenty of parking spaces and the employees there are your greatest assets. Way friendly, helpful on decisions and always with a smile. As a regular, my coffee is made by the time I get to the counter. That’s super GREAT service!!

No matter who is making my coffee at caribou it is consistent every time throughout the state. I have tried almost everything caribou over the years. If I didn’t care for a certain seasonal beverage I was new to then they would gladly listen and offer to make me something I had tried prior and liked. I do like 99.9% of everything on the menu. When my friends and I discuss people who go elsewhere for their coffee we refer to them as “cheaters”. There’s nothing better than stepping off the plane, arriving in Minnesota, after an 8-20 hour flight and being able to order up some mint condition caribou!!! Ahhhh home.

The old version of CaribouCoffee was super frustrating for three reasons. First, having to scan separate for check in and payment was nuts. That's been fixed. Second, it was really unwieldy to reload with money and that's been streamlined in newer versions. Not perfect but at least it remembers my card number and doesn't time out. Third, I haven't had problems with waiting a long time (with a line of frustrated customers behind me) for CaribouCoffee to retrieve my account so the barista could scan it like I used to. So five stars for fixing the parts that needed fixing. Now it actually is more convenient to pay this way.

This is a very nice app and i love it most of the time!! It very easy to use and you can clearly look at all the drinks and food items you can order! I use CaribouCoffee all the time and it’s very convenient.

But unfortunately one day I was doing a mobile order, and I used my points to get a free beverage, (and i’ve used this free beverage thing before and it always works) it showed that point got taken away so i assumed it worked, I went into caribou and waited 15 minutes for my drink, and they said my order didn’t work. I showed them I lost my point but they said “unfortunately we can’t give you a free drink” So sadly I lost out on all those points I earned to get me a free beverage.

That is the only downside I have had with CaribouCoffee otherwise I love it!

I love their drinks. They had forgotten to give me their promo gift card and told me I’d have to contact corporate. We asked for the number. We called it on speaker and it ended up being a sex line. We called the caribou back and they confirmed the number. We doubted that the number was typed wrong. We typed the same number again, again this was a sex line. A line played in front on my nephews. I’m so upset at them. They still wouldn’t do the $5 gift card they stated that the manager was to busy and to call cooperate. We waited an hour and went back to caribou in person and the manager paid $5 out of his own pocket for the gift at. I’m mad about this whole situation. He shouldn’t have paid for the gift card. The number given shouldn’t of been a sex line and a confirmed cooperate number that they gave twice to me.

Absolutely love. It’s simple, and makes getting coffee more convenient than anywhere else. To be able to order ahead, and by the time I arrive, my coffee is waiting for me? Doesn’t get any better than that, and the points system is extremely kind to me. My only suggestion, is to create a “level status” for customers who are loyal. Perhaps everyone starts off at bronze, and work your way up to Silver, Gold, platinum, etc. This way, baristas can not only recognize every day customers, but there’s an even stronger level of connection between customer and business. Just an idea, and would be excited to spend more money here to obtain that status.

ADD MORE TIPPING OPTIONS!!!!!!! I WANT TO TIP YOUR EMPLOYEES! I love CaribouCoffee. But, unlike other apps, you cannot tip the workers when you purchase a cup of coffee IN STORE using CaribouCoffee . We want to tip, it it requires cash. Catch up to Starbucks. They have done this for years! I have a Caribou at my building at work and go there often. It’s nice to not have to remember my wallet to grab a cup of coffee. Pre-ordering is amazing. Love the way the points work and you can pick how you want to use it. I with it would list the location closest to me really clearly. I have been in the parking lot and had it lost the ones down the street first because I have ordered from them before.

Caribou is the closest coffee shop to my work, and I stop in before every shift to get the caffeine I need to power through. One of the baristas told me I should get CaribouCoffee bc you get a free beverage of any size after signing up, so I downloaded it and it’s literally the greatest thing. It’s so easy to earn points towards free drinks ( and other perks), and because I’m a regular customer at Caribou I rack up enough to get a free coffee every couple of weeks. They are also always running promotions like free size upgrades to perks members, so I almost always get the most bang possible for my buck. Get the perks app, and get your free coffee! You won’t regret it!

I have enjoyed Caribou coffee and it’s coffee shops for years and it has never changed. It is the gold standard for any other coffee and coffee shop I try. Nothing else even comes close. I sure miss hanging out, reading, meeting friends, and working the crossword from the newspaper every Sunday afternoon with my husband at our local Caribou or one of the many others we frequent around the Twin Cities. Am looking forward to a post-Covid time where we can return to our wonderful place with our amazing coffee! For now, we still enjoy our Caribou coffee picked up curbside and/or in our K-cups at home every day!

Caribou has been my favorite since high school. If you want a cool app that shows you tons of caribou locations. Let’s you play games, and give you money off drinks and free perks. Well where have you been your whole life? This is the place. :). CaribouCoffee is cute and Fun. The only thing I would make better is make better prizes for your trivia!!!!!! ;). Oh did I mention that every time I’ve ordered ahead and went to pick up my coffee which is awesome when you have a toddler!!! Y’all are always in sync because your calling my name as I walk in the door. Hey bou ;). Don’t tell my boyfriend 😂

CaribouCoffee is great, I use it to pay for my drinks on a daily basis. I don’t need to carry my wallet, just my phone which I always have. The only exception is on days when a new version of CaribouCoffee is released, those mornings when I check in and try to use it to buy my drink, the pay portion of CaribouCoffee doesn’t load and have to run back out to my car to get my wallet. This happens religiously! I am at my Caribou at 6am and at that time of day, there is not an update available for CaribouCoffee , yet it the pay doesn’t work. Later in the morning the new version of CaribouCoffee is released. So, developers I would like you to take this into consideration, can you check on this little bug?

I mean, if you want to order ahead and reliably build up rewards and stuff, you have to get it, so like, don’t wait probably😹

The trivia is fun, the menu is pretty intuitive, and although a bit boxy, the overall aesthetic is great IMO. Love Caribou’s color scheme forever.

My one thing: I miss the feature where you could pay for one drink in exact change instead of preloading a bunch of money. I understand that the latter might be good for business, but the former is the reason I always went here instead of Starbucks. It makes each transaction feel so much smaller and more manageable. Think about bringing it back maybe?

Signed up for rewards. Got one via email. Email didn’t have any directions for redeeming the reward, simply said come in to any Caribou Coffee location for a free drink any size. I came in, showed the email to the cashier. It took two cashiers to figure it out. They determined that the reward I had was instead a free soda through Einstein Bagels. Ha! I showed them again- the email clearly says Caribou Coffee free drink any size. So they just charged me $2.85 for a coffee anyway. It became obvious both employees were 100% illiterate. Finally, they just agreed to waive the price of a coffee, instead of helping me use the actual reward I had loaded into my account. Upon leaving the store, I tried downloading CaribouCoffee, specifically made for Caribou Coffee rewards, to see if that made a difference. And wow it was terrible! I am not able to use a reward unless I find a store location. But guess what? The store locator function is broken and says there are no store locations in the USA. And yes, I did turn location on. And if you do manage to find a location, which we were able to do after restarting CaribouCoffee , it won’t let you select it or order from it. I tried, my husband tried, after twenty minutes we admitted defeat. The Caribou rewards program is unusable, as is their app, and I won’t be giving them my business. There are plenty of other coffee companies that do have their act together, I can go there instead. What a laughable shame, Caribou!

Maryview involves customer service. I have a very hectic schedule and in the past three weeks I was looking for a coffee barista to have my regular espresso on a daily basis.I happen to stop at Hy-Vee grocery store on 32nd and Oakland in Cedar Rapids Iowa and I had the best personal experience with manager who is about 24 years old and just full of warmth and awesome juju. Tallia is her name she has been consistent with me for over three weeks signed me up for Caribou treats Carabel online which I would never do . I sit and I have coffee in the corner of the small quaint area she treats everybody with the most I’m so impressed you’re very lucky to have her as an employee.

thank you
Jim Wheeler

I travel a bunch and Caribou Coffee is the smoothest coffee out there. There is none of the bitter over roasted flavor that you get with most. The taste of the coffee comes out without that burned after effect. I believe that is what most who dislike coffee object to. The people are nice and there is no pushing of the management’s political feelings like some of their competitors. The only thing is that sometimes their specialty drinks are too sweet, but I just ask for less sweetener and it is perfect. Finally while my wife went through her cancer treatment her taste changed and the employees helped her find a drink that she liked. It was a mango tea latte. That was special to her.

CaribouCoffee is so easy to use. It’s convenient to have everything at your fingertips. The ordering aspect when I’m going in to work is amazing. I can order while on the bus right before I get dropped off and know that when I get to the Caribou in my building it’s ready. I can see all my points and rewards that I can choose from and have access to all the delicious goodies. I’ve never had a problem with it and would definitely recommend everyone gets this. It also shows me where there are Caribou’s around me if I’m in an area I’m not familiar with and just want to make a coffee run!

****Edit**** everything has been fixed with the help of customer service. They were great and easy to deal with and the problem was fixed quickly.

I have struggled for months trying to get CaribouCoffee to link with my perks card. When I go in and order and give my phone number my account comes up for the workers and I have points but when I have them scan CaribouCoffee they tell me that it shows no points. Really with there was a was my to reset CaribouCoffee and get my account to link so I can see how many point I have currently.

While waiting for coffee at a busy airport, I could not access my Caribou app and when I did I was unable to purchase a medium cup of coffee. The barista informed me that I can only pay for the coffee with cash or credit cards, even though I had $31 in my Caribou account . . . I later found out at the Caribou store I frequent that Caribou had readjusted something and it wiped out our ability to access the account with our email and passwords. Had I known that I wouldn’t of had to go through what I did at the airport on August 13 when I was flying from Minneapolis to Denver. I was told by a barista at terminal two in Minneapolis that the only way I could pay for it with points, so therefore I had to pay cash because I had done the points to buy the coffee. This is totally unacceptable. I’ve never had this problem with your main competitor.