Your weekly round-up of the five biggest stories from across the global coffee industry...
- Mahou San Miguel bolsters B2B coffee offer with two-brand acquisition
- Starbucks and Nestlé leverage $2bn Refreshers platform
- World’s first ‘free’ coffee to land in New York
- Groupe SEB announces leadership change
- Swiss Water makes multi-million-dollar production investment
1. Spanish beer giant Mahou San Miguel snaps up two B2B coffee brands
In October 2025, Spanish beer giant Mahou San Miguel diversified its beverage portfolio with the launch of Café 170, a packaged coffee brand for the Horeca sector.
Less than 12 months later, the brewer has increased its share in the Spanish B2B coffee market by acquiring two wholesale brands from Disbesa Darnés.
The deal comes as Madrid-based Mahou San Miguel advances its non-alcoholic beverage strategy, which has also seen investment in natural energy drink and functional soft drink ranges.
2. Starbucks Refreshers hit homes with Nestlé tie-up
Starbucks Refreshers Concentrates sold out on Amazon’s online store within 24 hours after launching earlier in 2026, while an initial retail rollout in 1,000 Target stores sold out within three days.
Refreshers is a $2bn beverage platform for Starbucks, and one it is seeking to build as part of its $7.1bn Global Coffee Alliance with Nestlé.
With the Swiss F&B giant now distributing the concentrates through at-home channels globally, how high could demand for the colourful, flavour-led iced beverages reach?
3. Gimmick or genius? Free Bean launches the world’s first ‘free’ coffee shop
A US coffee start-up is opening its first store in New York, and customers won’t pay a penny for the coffee on offer.
Free Bean has distributed 64,000 cans of its cold brew, vanilla latte, and mocha latte RTDs at pop-ups since launching in December 2024. All have been fully subsidised by advertising.
Its first walk-in retail store will open in Manhattan on 23 September 2026, with six companies backing the launch with on-product advertising. But will the novel concept hit the mark in the Big Apple?
4. New CEO to lead next chapter for French coffee equipment giant Groupe SEB
Lyon-based Groupe SEB implemented a turnaround strategy at the start of 2026 to return the business to profit growth and deliver €200m in efficiency savings.
That charge will now be led by a new CEO, with former Mars executive Loïc Moutault stepping into the role on 1 October 2026.
Moutault joins the WMF, Schaerer, Curtis and La San Marco owner shortly after it secured major contracts in the US and China earlier this year.
5. Swiss Water unveils multi-million-dollar investment in production
Canada’s Swiss Water has carved out a market-leading position in the North American decaffeinated coffee market, as the go-to brand for scaled specialty coffee groups such as Blue Bottle Coffee, Onyx Coffee Lab and Equator Coffees.
It is now positioning itself for greater growth with a CA$6.2m ($4.4m) investment to increase production capacity at its British Columbia roastery.
In addition to meeting existing customer demand, Swiss Water President and CEO Frank Dennis said the investment will also enable the decaffeinated coffee company to attract new trading partners and expand into new markets.
