[Nestl é buys Blue bottle Coffee] what does it mean for everyone?

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Background:

On the morning of September 14, Western time, the Swiss Nestle Group announced that it would buy 68% of the boutique coffee Blue Bottle Blue bottle Coffee for 500 million US dollars. So far, Blue Bottle in more than 40 brick-and-mortar stores (data from Blue Bottle's website) in New York, San Francisco and Tokyo has been valued at $700m.

As soon as the incident came out, it immediately alarmed the whole coffee industry.

The average blue bottle coffee shop is worth 15 million US dollars, or nearly 100 million RMB. No wonder so many "bigwigs" are shocked.

"the most vulgar and boring old tycoon in the village"-- Nestle

Nestl é is a famous coffee producer in the world, with two major coffee brands, Nestle Coffee and Nespresso. "Nestle Coffee" is a world-renowned instant coffee brand, exported to more than 180 countries, with sales of nearly 5500 cups per second. Nespresso mainly sells capsule coffee and has more than 600 brick-and-mortar stores. On the e-commerce platform, the daily passenger flow is as high as 465000.

You can make fun of Nestl é as an "illiterate old tycoon", but in fact other people are far more powerful than most of their peers. As the coffee giant that initiated and promoted the first wave of coffee "instant coffee", every "small move" will cause a big shock in the industry.

The decline and elimination of instant coffee is proved by data, and the environmental protection of capsule coffee has also been criticized. It is also true that Nestl é has been mired in a development quagmire in recent years. But he is definitely not a defenseless old man, he may just be an old hunter quietly waiting for the right time to do it.

Wenqing to love, coffee industry Apple, minority boutique coffee representative-- Blue Bottle

Blue bottle caffeine focuses on "boutique coffee" and attaches importance to customer experience. Each cup of coffee is hand-brewed by baristas. Different from the style of general coffee chains, it is called "Apple of the coffee industry". It even brings up the "third wave of coffee revolution" like tasting red wine in the United States. Blue bottle coffee can be seen from the San Francisco Bay area where technology companies gather to Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo. It is deeply loved by the broad masses of Wenqing.

Unlike Starbucks, a chain that replicates in large numbers, Blue bottle Coffee is marked by detail-oriented "boutique coffee". It does not sell coffee beans that have been roasted for more than 48 hours, and many people flock to it, and its idea has raised 120 million dollars. even to maintain quality, each blue bottle coffee shop has set up its own professional baking factory near each blue bottle coffee shop, and is unwilling to join.

As the representative of the third wave of "boutique coffee", Blue Bottle has always advocated the spirit of independence and fashion.

Blue bottle Coffee not only runs brick-and-mortar coffee shops, but also hired Google designer Jake Knapp and Google venture capital (GV) to develop online stores to sell coffee beans to actively expand sales channels outside the brick-and-mortar stores. At this point, there is still a slight possibility of cooperation between Blue bottle Coffee and Nestl é.

What does it mean for Nestl é to buy blue bottle coffee?

From beginning to end, it is very normal and reasonable for Nestl é to buy blue bottle coffee.

The acquisition is good for Nestl é and Blue Bottle, or for their founder James Freeman-for Blue Bottle, it's in line with their current corporate strategy for expansion; for Freeman, it could also bring his coveted retirement to an early date. (the remaining 32% of Blue Bottle is currently owned by founder Freeman and some Blue Bottle managers and employees. )

For Nestle: the completion of Blue Bottle Coffee's stake acquisition marks Nestl é's official foray into the fast-growing boutique coffee chain market with an iconic brand of instant coffee and capsule coffee. Owning the Blue Bottle Coffee brand consolidates Nestl é's position in the American coffee market, the largest coffee market in the world, and opens access to other international markets by relying on its successful operation in Japan. In addition, the move also provides a good opportunity to sell boutique ready-to-drink drinks and roasted and ground coffee products online on a large scale.

For Blue bottle Coffee: with the acquisition of Nestl é, Blue bottle Coffee will usher in an opportunity for stable and rapid development, which is expected to challenge Starbucks' dominance. But the sword has double edges. on the other hand, many people are worried about whether the future development and brand style will be full of variables because of the independence of style, persistence in details, focusing on boutique coffee and blue bottle coffee, which do not want to be joined.

Even though both Nestl é and Blue bottle stress that the management will not change, and Blue bottle CEO Bryan Meehan and founder James Freeman will stay, a large number of fans are still sweating, and many even think that Blue Bottle has already deviated from the core values and scope of these fans' independent small coffee shops.

For fans: although many loyal fans are very disappointed, many fans who embrace the idea of anti-globalization, enterprising and tend to run small independent stores may think that "Blue Bottle is no longer a Blue Bottle", but for others, this is a good thing, because after this acquisition, more people will have the opportunity to taste "Blue Bottle" products, both online and offline.

For other boutique coffee counterparts: some peers may think that this is a good thing, which means that the boutique coffee industry has always been in the tuyere of development, which means that the concept of "boutique coffee" has become popular and gradually become mainstream, which is predictable. The boutique coffee should sell better in the future.

Some colleagues believe that the "sale" of blue bottle coffee is a standard for the price of this boutique coffee industry, and the newcomers have a basis for "self-pricing"-that is to say, from then on, many people have the hope of being acquired in the future.

Of course, there are also some colleagues who deliberately stir up the incident, in fact, they are trying to get a good way out-whether it is to be acquired or to obtain financing.

However, as "outsiders", the most important thing for us is to stick to our heart and make our own coffee well. Wake up! No matter how hot the boutique coffee is, its own hard strength is the most reliable prop. Without strength, no one will invest in you at all, let alone buy a "empty shell" cafe. If one day Blue Bottle opens next to your shop, I hope your colleagues will have enough spirit and ability to deal with it.