Winning By Not Winning: We’re Celebrating with You!

October 28, 2026

According to a cursory Google search, the late Dale Earnhardt is attributed to saying, “Second place is the first loser”. Or, to quote Talledega Nights, “If you’re not first, you’re last.” That’s one mindset… but heck, let’s have some fun with it.

After winning two years in a row, Kaldi’s Coffee took second place in the 2026 USA Today Readers’ Choice Best Coffee Chain poll (the full list is at the bottom of this page). During the campaign, we received a tremendous amount of support and votes from our guests, team members, customers, and beyond. We couldn’t be more grateful for the show of love and the gift of time that people gave for us so we could go for a third win in a row. And after all, ranking #2 amongst some of the biggest names in coffee (with hundreds more locations than Kaldi’s) is 100% something to be proud of. Congrats to Scooter's Coffee for taking this year's top spot.

Team members from DeMun holding up 2 fingers for the USA Today #2 Best Coffee Chain win

And you know what, plenty of amazing things happen in 2’s:

The peace sign is made by holding up 2 fingers (who doesn’t love peace?)
Married couples consist of 2 people (love is the glue that binds us all)
Boys 2 Men is one of the best R&B groups of all time (their album, aptly named “II”, sold 12 million copies)
2 coffees are better than 1 coffee (that’s just science)

Team members from the Kaldi's Coffee roastery holding up 2 fingers for the USA Today #2 Best Coffee Chain win

So, we invite you to have a little fun with us for being 2026’s #2 Best Coffee Chain:

For 2 days - November 2nd and November 3rd - enjoy $2 off our signature Highlander Grogg Latte at all participating St. Louis-area Kaldi’s Coffee cafes.

It’s the perfect combination of our fun signature latte and a celebration of a great group effort - 2 more great things when put together.

We’re obviously having a little fun with this, but to close on a very serious note: thank you. Thank you for your votes, your visits, and for making us feel like the #1 coffee company in the world.

The Kaldi’s Coffee Team