Your weekly round-up of the five biggest stories from across the global coffee industry...
- Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund buys $1bn stake in Luckin Coffee
- Starbucks bets $1bn on Brian Niccol’s coffeehouse vision
- Joe & The Juice goes after the morning daypart
- Japan’s % Arabica plots fifth European market entry
- Löfbergs becomes sole coffee partner to McDonald’s across the Nordics
1. Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund takes $1bn minority stake in Luckin Coffee
Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company has agreed to acquire a $1bn minority stake in Luckin Coffee as it seeks a greater foothold in China's $7.2bn consumer market.
The deal has been struck in partnership with Luckin’s controlling shareholder, Centurium Capital, under whose ownership the value-focused chain has grown from 6,600 stores to more than 36,000 since 2022.
But the arrival of a state-owned Emirati investor with a $385bn portfolio on Luckin’s shareholder register, and soon its board, marks a significant shift in the ownership of the coffee chain poised to overtake Starbucks as the world’s largest.
What does Mubadala’s vote of confidence tell us about the global influence of China's branded coffee shop market?
2. $1bn investment shows Starbucks has firmly embraced Brian Niccol's vision
Two years after declaring Starbucks too transactional, too slow and too complicated, Brian Niccol has been handed $1bn to finish the job.
The world’s largest coffee chain will remodel 9,000 stores across North America, 80% of its company-operated estate in the region, as it seeks to drive dwell time and transactions under the Back to Starbucks strategy, which has now delivered four consecutive quarters of positive sales growth.
At roughly $150,000 per store, the refits cost around ten times less than previous programmes, with most work carried out overnight to minimise disruption.
Niccol is the sixth CEO to lead the 41,300-store operator. Our analysis examines why he could prove the most influential since Howard Schultz.
3. Joe & The Juice wants to ‘own the morning’
While much of the branded coffee sector is chasing the afternoon occasion, Denmark's Joe & The Juice is going the other way.
The Copenhagen-based group has launched a new breakfast menu and global marketing campaign across roughly half of its 529-store network, including 80 stores in the UK and 62 in the US, with premium egg wraps and bowls priced between $6.00-$9.00 and served from 7-11am.
It is a daypart worth winning. World Coffee Portal research shows 58% of UK consumers and 73% of US consumers made their most recent coffee shop visit in the morning.
CEO Thomas Nørøxe is blunt about the opportunity: mornings are “the one part of the day we haven’t won yet”. Here's how the 1,000-store-by-2028 chain intends to take it.
4. Japan’s % Arabica to enter fifth European market
Japanese specialty coffee group % Arabica is back on the European expansion trail, with a new market launch pencilled in before the end of 2026.
The Kyoto-founded operator has built a 240-store, 29-market network largely in East Asia and the Middle East, but its European presence remains deliberately select: four outlets in the UK, two in France and single sites in Turkey and Hungary.
Its next move takes it into a market of just 667 branded coffee shop outlets, but one with an outsized specialty scene led by Vicafe, Mame Coffee and Boreal Coffee Shop.
Find out where % Arabica is opening, which 133-year-old design studio is behind the store, and which markets remain on its watchlist.
5. Löfbergs adds fourth Nordic market to key McDonald’s account
Karlstad-based Löfbergs has extended its long-standing McDonald’s partnership into Finland, adding 90 restaurants and taking its coverage across the Nordics to 520 sites.
Signed with regional master franchisee Food Folk, the deal confirms the 120-year-old family-owned roaster as sole coffee partner to the fast-food giant in the region, a position built up since it began supplying Sweden and Norway in 2013 and developed an exclusive McCafé blend in 2021.
It is also the second major account win of the year for a roaster producing nearly 11 million cups a day, following the expansion of its Circle K wholesale supply to more than 4,000 stores across Europe in June.
Find out what Chief International Business Officer Trina Törnqvist says about the deal as new CEO Anneli Ellsäter takes the helm.
