Food
Significant sales growth at food manufacturer Nestlé in the first half of the year is mainly due to strong performances on the large American market, to increasing sales in petcare and to the successful launch of Starbucks.
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Coffee chain Starbucks is restructuring its European activities. The Amsterdam office closes, resulting in 190 dismissals, and Mexican franchise group Alsea will take over all stores in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
American coffee company Starbucks will ban plastic straws in their stores starting from 2020. A small step for coffee enthusiasts, but a big step for the environment, as the coffee giant uses about a billion straws every year.
Global brands are increasingly struggling to ward off smaller, local companies. Some even believe the brands’ golden age has passed. That may be presumptuous, but there are some noticeable trends.
Swiss food giant Nestlé has signed a distribution deal with Starbucks: for 6 billion euro, the company can start selling the American chain’s brands.
Coffee chain Starbucks is committing 10 million dollars (8 million euros) to bring a fully recyclable and compostable cup to the market within the next three years. Currently, some six billion Starbucks cups are distributed per year, an impressive 1% of the world's total.
Starbucks-owned tea chain Teavana will shut down every single store, which will put 3,300 people out of a job. It currently has nearly 380 stores.
Automotive
Car manufacturer Ford revealed that its cars with SYNC3 voice technology can place orders at coffee chain Starbucks directly.
Starbucks is not planning to just accept Europe's demand to pay back 25.7 million euro in illegal state aid, which is why it has now filed a suit with the European Court.
Howard Schultz, coffee chain Starbucks' CEO, will delegate a few day-to-day activities in order to focus on the company's overall strategy and the development of a premium branch within the group.
The Dutch government has asked Starbucks to pay back 25.7 million euro, after the European Commission deemed it was illegal state aid.
General
American Starbucks still uses the tax construction it agreed upon with the Dutch government, even though the European Commission considers it to be illegal.
American Starbucks and beer brewer AB InBev will launch a new project together, called Teavana. It consists of a new range of premium tea drinks for the market in the United States.
American coffee bar chain Starbucks has seen its first quarter turnover grow 9.4 % to 4.99 billion dollars (4.4 billion euro), which failed to trump analysts' expectations.
Coffee shops are the fastest growing hospitality branch worldwide, according to Euromonitor International's numbers. The competition increases, pushing forward the pace of innovation.
Starbucks has decided to no longer pursue an expansion of its tea chain, Teavana. It will even shut down or remodel 4 of the 5 current stores into Starbucks stores.
