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.
https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/georgia-coffee-is-t...
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...
But then McDonalds, I think, already sell more coffee than anyone else in the UK, so I guess they're converging from both directions.
Similarly, they also sell very-high-sugar cakes and drinks.
Think you're right about Coca Cola re Starbucks, though perhaps they've stalled because their business has typically revolved around logistics / volume rather than brick and mortars...?
Philz would almost make sense if they could put 1Gbps connectivity into AWS and specifically base the performance of the deal on AWS signups.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAB_Holding_Company
They've got Peets, Mighty Leaf, Intelligentsia, Stumptown, and Caribou. They also have the Espresso House chain in the Nordics, Krispy Kreme, Panera, and Einstein Bagels.
Keurig is also under their umbrella, as are a bunch of other coffee roasters, and other consumer products.
I don't really want to see Amazon become more of a giant sadly, but I hate seeing book stores disappear.
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-...
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.
But appears to be the largest coffee chain in Europe, in terms of branches and revenue, from what I could find.
Or is it mostly black filter coffee?
Starbucks is an American coffee chain :-)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flat-White-Economy-Douglas-McWillia...
No, it doesn't have to make sense...
https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=MiriamWeiner
As noted, it is not against the guidelines though. Personally, I just flag them.
I was not a Starbucks customer though.
“Flat White opened its doors in 2005 because it was nigh impossible to get a flat white; the strong, delicious creamy coffee of our namesake. London lacked a strong independent café/coffee culture so we set out to be beacon & inspiration for other people who loved coffee, independent spirit and good old-fashioned hospitality. Flash forward and over ten years on London is thriving with many varied and different coffee offerings- a vibrant and exciting scene of excellence and commitment to excellence.”
And to add some more context. A New Zealander I know wrote a London coffee map app around 2010 to teach himself iOS app development. He curated the list of coffee shops he added to the map (they had to serve a proper flat white) and at time of release he’d added over 150 coffee shops.
In 2007 and then again in 2009 the world barista champions hailed from London.
All this should give you an idea of how quickly the London artisan coffee scene exploded in the late “noughties”.
So if you’re claiming to be a coffee nerd who couldn’t find a flat white in London in 2014, I’m going to say you didn’t look very hard.
Note: Not one chain ever featured on that app. I only mentioned Starbucks above to illustrate how ubiquitous the Flat White was at that time (2010) that Starbucks felt they had to add it to their menu to stay relevant/competitive.
I moved to London in early 2013, and it definitely wasn't that popular. I had my own group of coffee buddies but I was the only one drinking it. Even today only 1 in 10 coffee drinkers have it [0].
Note that I did drink flat white all the time back then, it just didn't always appear on the menu. You just had to ask nicely and most people would make you one (or try anyway).
Note that Starbucks and Costa do not make flat white IMO, even if they sell a drink called that.
That said, today is way different and flat whites are everywhere.
[0] https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/flat-white-coffee-c...
So when Starbucks came with a poor product the only people who went were curious locals (who didn't return) and Asian students who liked the brand:
(Omad = one meal a day)
