Blue Bottle Coffee
Coffee chain · 140+ locations · US (incl. NYC, Bay Area, Boston, LA), Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong
Blue Bottle is the craft-coffee pioneer sold twice over: to Nestlé in 2017, and now to Luckin Coffee's PE backer at a markdown. Its baristas have unionized, struck, and filed twenty unfair-labor-practice charges along the way.
The Big Picture
Blue Bottle's craft reputation now belongs to whoever owns it: Nestlé bought control in 2017, the founder left in 2021, and in 2026 Nestlé is selling to Centurium Capital — Luckin Coffee's PE backer — at a valuation down $300M from its peak. The labor record has hardened alongside: a $1.5M settlement of wage claims in 2020, union votes of 38–4 in Boston and 22–5 in the East Bay, an organizer fired the day after a campaign went public, twenty unfair-labor-practice charges, and strikes in May and November 2025 alleging bad-faith bargaining. The brand answers to its next buyer; its workers are organizing to make sure someone answers to them.
The Dirty Details
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Company data last updated August 2026
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