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Luckin Isn’t Stupid
Centurium Capital, the controlling shareholder behind Luckin Coffee, is buying Blue Bottle from Nestlé for under $400 million. Smart move.They are not buying just a just a coffee brand. They’re buying a pre-built foothold in the US, plus a brand that still carries a premium in markets where Chinese names have historically struggled, South Korea and Japan, for example. How much of that international footprint is actually part of the deal remains unclear.
But for a company that wants to eventually take on Starbucks in its own backyard, this is a serious opening move. This is the same playbook Amer Sports ran, using Chinese capital and operational muscle to acquire overseas brands and build a global empire while everyone else is busy panicking about tariffs and trade wars.
Nestlé, meanwhile, got exactly what it wanted. They’re keeping the packaged goods business. The cold brew cans and bags of beans move fast on the shelves of chains like Whole Foods. The capsules are for Europeans. And Nescafé itself is viewed as a pretty low-end brand in North America anyway. Who wants the messy business of baristas and lease negotiations?
Full disclosure: True Ventures was an investor in Blue Bottle. Great outcome. Big up Tony Conrad. I have personally invested, made, and lost enough money in coffee-related companies to know a thing or two.
For Centurium, under $400 million to fast-track a US expansion is not a bad price at all. Win-win for what has quietly been becoming a pretty mid-tier chain. More details at Daily Coffee News.
March 4, 2026. San Francisco