Meet Renée Brown
Meet Renée Brown
Co-Founder of Weaver's Coffee & Tea
Renée Brown co-founded Weaver's Coffee & Tea in 2007 with Master Coffee Roaster John Weaver, Michael Brown, and Bryce Inouye. From the beginning, she built the company's sales, marketing, ecommerce, and product development, while leading across business development, operations, innovation, and growth. She brought an unusual background to the coffee business, shaped by years in hospitality, design, documentary filmmaking, international living, retail, entrepreneurship, and technology.
Scaling Weaver's for What's Next
Today, Renée is focused on scaling Weaver's Coffee & Tea through three key growth channels: a California Master Franchise model for retail expansion, broader CPG distribution, and direct-to-consumer ecommerce. Together, these channels build on Weaver's vertically integrated coffee platform and support recurring revenue across retail, wholesale, and digital commerce.
Alongside this growth strategy, Renée is building a strategic AI roadmap across manufacturing, direct-to-consumer ecommerce, and retail, using technology to make the business smarter, more efficient, and easier to scale while protecting the quality, craftsmanship, and customer relationships that have defined Weaver's from the beginning.
The Road Less Traveled
Renée earned degrees in economics and political science, with a minor in French. After college, she spent three years traveling aboard private yachts as a private chef, an experience that demanded high standards, discretion, adaptability, and attention to detail. She then spent four years in kitchen design, with plans to combine her culinary and design experience by designing kitchens for yachts. Those plans changed after a blind date with Michael Brown, whom she later married.
A Global Perspective
Renée and Michael spent the next 13 years living in Honolulu, Hawaii; Hong Kong; and Tokyo, Japan. After five years in Honolulu, they moved to Hong Kong, where they lived for three years and welcomed their son around the time of the historic 1997 handover from British to Chinese rule. They later moved to Tokyo with their five-month-old son and spent the next five years in Japan. More than a decade living across Hawaii and Asia gave Renée firsthand experience with different cultures, consumer expectations, cuisines, design traditions, and approaches to hospitality and business.
Storytelling and Filmmaking
During her years in Honolulu, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, Renée built a career in documentary filmmaking. In 1995, she founded Chatty Mac Productions in Honolulu, writing, directing, and producing multiple award-winning documentaries. Her work combined storytelling, creative direction, production management, and the ability to bring complex projects from concept to completion.
Building Weaver's Coffee & Tea
In 2007, Renée co-founded Weaver's Coffee & Tea with Master Coffee Roaster John Weaver, Michael Brown, and Bryce Inouye, building a business and brand around John's decades of coffee expertise and craftsmanship.
From the ground up, Renée built the company's sales, marketing, ecommerce, and product development functions, drove business development, and brought in public relations to build brand awareness.
As the company grew, Renée led Weaver's operations across its San Rafael and San Francisco locations, the coffee roastery, and the company's ecommerce business. Her role spanned production and retail, digital commerce, brand development, and the customer experience.
Renée also led the development of Weaver's San Francisco flagship at 2301 Market Street from concept through opening, leading permitting, managing contractors and buildout, and overseeing operations. From 2014 through 2020, the location served as Weaver's flagship coffee shop and a physical expression of the brand in San Francisco, until a high-speed vehicle crashed through the building and destroyed the location.
From San Rafael, California to Cannes, France
Renée's experience in film and coffee came together at the Cannes Film Festival, where she established a multi-year partnership that brought Weaver's Coffee & Tea from San Rafael, California to an international audience of filmmakers, artists, and creatives in Cannes, France. For several years, the partnership gave Weaver's a presence on one of the world's most recognized international stages, reflecting Renée's ability to identify opportunities, build strategic relationships, and introduce the brand to new audiences.
Product Innovation and New Markets
Renée has led the development of new products at Weaver's, including Weaver's Cold Brew Coffee Cans and Single-Serve Compostable Coffee Bags. These products give customers new ways to enjoy Weaver's coffee while creating opportunities for CPG growth through new retail and distribution channels. For Renée, the standard remains the same: new products have to deliver the quality and craftsmanship customers expect from Weaver's Coffee & Tea.
Ecommerce, AI, and the Future
Renée built Weaver's ecommerce business and is now developing AI systems across manufacturing, direct-to-consumer ecommerce, and retail. Weaver's online store already features a 24/7 AI assistant that speaks more than 90 languages, helping customers discover coffee, get recommendations, and receive support whenever they need it.
Her focus is on using AI where it can improve the business and the customer experience, always with a human in the loop.