Coca-Cola Expanding in Last Beverage Frontiers of Coffee, Milk
From Bloomberg
Coca-Cola Co. is planning to sell packaged arabica coffee beans to Brazilian consumers as the world’s largest soft-drink producer expands in breakfast beverages.
The Atlanta-based company will sell packaged beans through a local tea brand it owns called Leao as it seeks further diversification. Coca-Cola has a partnership agreement with coffee exporter Tristao Companhia de Comercio Exterior, which will acquire and roast the beans.
Coca-Cola, which for more than a decade has expanded to other products including juice, tea and mineral water, is now advancing into coffee and milk. The company is concluding the acquisition of dairy products maker Laticinios Verde Campo in Minas Gerais, Brazil, as part of the strategy.
“Those were the two last frontiers in the beverage sector,” Hagen said in a telephone interview.
Coca-Cola will focus on high-end coffee drinkers as it plans to offer blends made exclusively from arabica, the premium beans favored by coffee-house chain Starbucks Corp. While Brazil is the world’s top producer of arabica coffee, those beans are primarily exported and rarely accessed by domestic consumers, according to Hagen.