These companies have other beverages in their sights – and coffee seems to be the current bull’s-eye.
I recently spent a very pleasant afternoon interviewing Eden Springs Europe CEO Raanan Zilberman for the cover of this issue’s Cooler Innovation magazine. It was fascinating to hear how the company is investing in office coffee, through both acquisitions and greenfield developments across Europe.
As well as being a major partner of Lavazza, the company has even launched its own coffee brand – Edenissimo – and is set to rebrand as ‘Eden: the Water and Coffee Company’. Is this proof enough that Eden is taking its goal to become a major coffee player very seriously?
There are obvious synergies between being an office water provider and breaking into coffee, as excellent service lies at the heart of both industries. If you already have a diverse and buoyant customer base, why not offer them more beverage options?
Other major companies in the water cooler business are also moving into coffee, including Waterlogic’s recent purchase of Norwegian business Det Stavangerske Kaffeselskap (DSK).
The coffee industry is certainly more complex than the water cooler market with a diverse product offering and barriers to market entry. But as an industry worth billions of dollars, it is surely worth the risk.
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