Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn • Hacker News Board

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

#71

Post by yomly » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:03 PM UTC

mgkimsal wrote: post #22

yomly wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always struggle with the doublethink that a "coffee" (that is, a black coffee) has nearly 0 calories. But a "coffee" (that is a drink that is really fat and sugar with some coffee added there) could have x calories where x is a stupidly large number...

yeah, even 'coffee' with milk is... the calories of milk. and I like a lot of milk in my coffee. or... I like a bit of coffee with my milk, to be more precise. so i've needed to watch how many I have. can't really deal with plain black coffee.

you should really have a go at persisting with black coffee - it's definitely acquired, but I really can't imagine coffee any other way.

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

#72

Post by sjwright » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:06 PM UTC

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #47

Hopefully they will destroy it, the UK is overrun with these mediocre coffee shops.

Indeed, and Australia demonstrates that it doesn't have to be like that. In most similar verticals we are very similar to either the UK, the US or both. Take McDonalds: incredibly successful fast food shop in Australia. That American success story works here, as does KFC and Domino's.

But when Starbucks arrived, it was a hilariously dismal flop because we already had sufficiently good coffee at all of our local non-chain cafes (and exceptionally good coffee at a non trivial subset of them).[1]

When Australians stop for a coffee on the way to work, a large number of us are going to a local cafe. We do have chains, but none of them command more than a very small share of the overall coffee market.[2]

Ironically, the number one coffee chain in Australia is almost certainly McCafe. And there's reason for that: the McCafe brand was an invention of McDonalds Australia to help their restaurants stay relevant in the Australian market. Because they emphasised quality from day one, the menu was native to Australian tastes, and the restaurants were already popular for their traditional fare, it has been a remarkable success. (McCafe in other countries is often little more than a brand on the cup; in Australia it's a third of the restaurant interior, with its own counter and menu. [3][4][5])

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FGUkxn5kZQ

[2] https://www.smartcompany.com.au/growth/aussies-flock-to-loca...

[3] http://blueskydesigngroup.com.au/project/mcdonalds/

[4] http://juicydesign.com.au/project/item/mcdonalds-playground-...

[5] https://www.moodiedavittreport.com/sydney-airport-opens-new-...

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

#73

Post by Nursie » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:06 PM UTC

ollie87 wrote: post #58

00deadbeef wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Costa's coffee is not brilliant, but it doesn't taste like someone cooked up the tar left at the bottom of the roaster.

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

#74

Post by chewz » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:09 PM UTC

yomly wrote: post #18

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 always struggle with the doublethink that a "coffee" (that is, a black coffee) has nearly 0 calories. But a "coffee" (that is a drink that is really fat and sugar with some coffee added there) could have x calories where x is a stupidly large number...

My friend - concerned that her daughter could put up weight from spending too much time in Starbucks - remarked that Starbucks basicaly serve coffee deserts rather then coffee.

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

#75

Post by Nursie » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:14 PM UTC

JulianMorrison wrote: post #14

Costa has always felt to me an also ran between the coffee milkshake chain Starbucks and the slightly more serious Caffe Nero. I wonder what Coca Cola plans to do with it?

> Costa has always felt to me an also ran ...

But appears to be the largest coffee chain in Europe, in terms of branches and revenue, from what I could find.

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

#76

Post by bena » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:14 PM UTC

mgkimsal wrote: post #27

Steve44 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

some of my "just black coffee" friends tell me the same thing - mcdonalds coffee is a good combination of taste and value. they all prefer something else, but mcd ends up being the 'go to' because it's known, it's not bad, and doesn't cost too much (which, typing that out, is probably the same for many of their menu items - not 'best in class', but a decent enough product).

I'll vouch. It's cheap, black, and hot. All a proper coffee really needs to be. McDonalds is also focused on churn. Get up, say what you want, get out. None of the half-pump soy chai latte no whip cinnamon dust in the freezer for 1.5 seconds kind of wackiness. Just a blearily slurred "small coffee" will get you what you want.

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

#77

Post by jghjg » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:16 PM UTC

snarf21 wrote: post #69

keiferski wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costa is still dramatically better than Dunkin Donuts, for example.

DD is coffee for people who don't like coffee. Almost everyone gets some kind of heavy sugar and dairy mixed drink. Basically candy coffee.

Dd and starbucks are both memecoffee cancers

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

#78

Post by bena » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:16 PM UTC

sjwright wrote: post #72

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #47

Hopefully they will destroy it, the UK is overrun with these mediocre coffee shops.

Indeed, and Australia demonstrates that it doesn't have to be like that. In most similar verticals we are very similar to either the UK, the US or both. Take McDonalds: incredibly successful fast food shop in Australia. That American success story works here, as does KFC and Domino's. But when Starbucks arrived, it was a hilariously dismal flop because we already had sufficiently good coffee at all of our local non-c…

Am I seriously thinking about going to Australia just to visit a McDonald's now?

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

#79

Post by jacquesm » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:24 PM UTC

baxtr wrote: post #4

When I lived in the states a friend of mine always used to say: “Starbucks sells fat and sugar to people, so their mainly competing against McDonalds” That made a lot of sense to me, and I could understand much better why they would introduce McCafes. Thus I think that this is probably a smart move although a bit late...

McDonalds really is a real estate company, the food is more or less a by-product of that nowadays.

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

#80

Post by ID1452319 » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:25 PM UTC

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #47

Hopefully they will destroy it, the UK is overrun with these mediocre coffee shops.

If we had fewer coffee shops, it would simply mean we have fewer shops.

I don't know what your local town centre is like, but mine would be a ghost town if the chain coffee shops backed up and went home.