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Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn

bbc.com

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Re: Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn

#51

Post by snowwolf »

mikekchar wrote: post #42
AJRF wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought Flat White was a London thing. I know it originated from Australia, but its well known as being the overpriced banker/technology worker/lawyer/well paid person drink in London. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flat-White-Economy-Douglas-McWillia...

I was living in London only 3 or 4 years ago. I never saw it! Weird. But I'm a coffee nerd, so probably I never went to the kinds of cafes that serve it. I actually like a proper flat white -- coffee made with milk instead of water. Just never seen it outside of Australia.

You can't have looked very hard. So called "Third Wave" artisanal coffee shops hit London around 13 years ago, mostly started by Australian immigrants bringing with them the "Flat White". The flat white become such a hipster go to drink that by 2010 they were added to the Starbucks menu in London.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_white

Re: Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn

#52

Post by 00deadbeef »

dazc wrote: post #37
mjal wrote: post #29

I'm concerned with the continual buyout of large established UK companies by US ones. It's happened a lot in the past ~10 years, most notably Cadbury's, and not only are there tax implications, but the standard of product seems to drop to the lowest acceptable while attempting to keep the same prices. There's also the issue with business ethics of the parent company, which tend to be rather different than the UK.

Fair point on Cadbury but to make Costa's coffee any worse is going to be a bit of a challenge.

Starbucks is far worse. Everything they sell tastes burned. Coca-Costa could just follow their example.

Re: Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn

#53

Post by 00deadbeef »

mikekchar wrote: post #42
AJRF wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought Flat White was a London thing. I know it originated from Australia, but its well known as being the overpriced banker/technology worker/lawyer/well paid person drink in London. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flat-White-Economy-Douglas-McWillia...

I was living in London only 3 or 4 years ago. I never saw it! Weird. But I'm a coffee nerd, so probably I never went to the kinds of cafes that serve it. I actually like a proper flat white -- coffee made with milk instead of water. Just never seen it outside of Australia.

Flat whites are everywhere in the UK, even the crappy Pumpkin shops at train stations will make you one.

Re: Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn

#54

Post by gsnedders »

kingosticks wrote: post #46

Could this be a consequence of the UK's sugar tax and an attempt to diversify as the revenue from traditional Coca-Cola shrinks? I appreciate they have no/low sugar alternate products but they must still have taken a big hit from that legislation.

The Coca-Cola Company only owns 18% of Coca-Cola European Partners, and I'd expect it'd have smaller consequences of the amount of syrup CCEP buys (given some of the movement will be to Diet and Zero).

Re: Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn

#55

Post by _b8r0 »

mjal wrote: post #29

I'm concerned with the continual buyout of large established UK companies by US ones. It's happened a lot in the past ~10 years, most notably Cadbury's, and not only are there tax implications, but the standard of product seems to drop to the lowest acceptable while attempting to keep the same prices. There's also the issue with business ethics of the parent company, which tend to be rather different than the UK.

It's not just US companies, although US companies are picking up more household names.

For the best part of the past decade, UK firms have largely underperformed compared to their US counterparts. The pound is depressed due to the way Brexit has gone to date and is likely to fall further still, making British companies undervalued on average.

A lot of British companies (like Whitbread, who own Costa) gain substantial revenues from abroad but are exposed to currency risks through the pound and anaemic economic growth at home.

Re: Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn

#56

Post by fuzzymooples »

kristianc wrote: post #17

Not as weird a fit as it might seem. Coca-Cola's Ready To Drink coffee brand in Japan, Georgia Coffee, is incredibly profitable (accounts for around 12% of Coca-Cola's global profit, despite only really being sold in Japan.) https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/georgia-coffee-is-t...

Strongly recommend the bizarre Twin Peaks ads they made with the cast in the 90s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3acm7j9k_1w

Re: Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn

#57

Post by matwood »

Steve44 wrote: post #16
cs02rm0 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costa were in the news for selling a coffee with more calories in it than a double cheeseburger. But then McDonalds, I think, already sell more coffee than anyone else in the UK, so I guess they're converging from both directions.

I don't have sales figures but a lot of people I know who travel a lot say that, in the UK at least, the McDonalds is pretty good. It's certainly their favourite balance with price and quality, these are proper black coffee drinkers too, not the bucket of sugar & cream types.

My coffee drink of choice is a plain hot latte (good black coffee is also fine). McDonalds coffee is fine, but not as consistent as a Starbucks. With McDonalds you're a bit at the whim of the machine and if the person operating it has done all the right steps. McDonalds is also a $1 or more less expensive.

Re: Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn

#58

Post by ollie87 »

00deadbeef wrote: post #52
dazc wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point on Cadbury but to make Costa's coffee any worse is going to be a bit of a challenge.

Starbucks is far worse. Everything they sell tastes burned. Coca-Costa could just follow their example.

I'd say Costa is worse than Starbucks.

Nero being the best of the UK chain coffee places.

Re: Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn

#60

Post by a_imho »

stuartmalcolm wrote: post #2

Am I the only one that is noticing a lot of BBC articles reaching HN frontpage that have nothing to do with tech?

Indeed, consider this submission history for example

https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=MiriamWeiner

As noted, it is not against the guidelines though. Personally, I just flag them.

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