Coca-Cola enters the coffee market with the Lion brand

Coca-Cola will sell coffee. From the first week of August will be available in supermarkets and specialty stores in Rio, Sao Paulo and Curitiba packages of coffee powder and beans, Arabica type. There is still no date set, but the product will be distributed throughout the country and there will be, still, sales through social networks.
Lion brand, the coffee will be the premium type. The proposal is more a product of the family of the company''s soft drinks. Those to be eaten hot or cold, as mate and teas, ready or in bags. Today there are about 200 labels of the old Junior Lion, the American multinational bought in 2007.
In the same non-aerated umbrella are the juices and Nectars Del Valle, the company acquired in 2006 by Coca Cola in partnership with the Mexican bottler Femsa.
The official launch of the coffee is scheduled for Aug. 6, the first day of the Olympic Games. Coca-Cola is one of the sponsors of the event since 1928. Will be installed in 20 Olympic Park machines that grind the coffee on hour consumption. Will be scattered in the food court and in the center of hospitality, space reserved for entertaining guests.
Coca-Cola comes diversifying its product offerings, given the global trend of shrinkage in the market of soft drinks. In Brazil, the company also has sought to offer drinks with local features. Acai berry juice with banana, Del Valle brand, is an example. In these lines, the multinational seeks to encourage local producers, as in the case of fruit of Guarana, which is planted and harvested in the Amazon.
The strategy to put the coffee in the portfolio of products started to be outlined here, in 2014. From research to product launches, the team of the new business area of the company identified that there was room for coffee and milk. At the end of last year, was purchased the manufacturer of Green dairy Field, a process that is still being finalized.
In parallel, the multinational began work to identify types of grain-producing areas and specialists in roasting for the offer of coffee, said the company''s Vice President of new business, Sandor Hagen. The research showed that the Lion brand would be appropriate, as it has high consumer acceptance.
The "blend" coffee Lion was created from definitions of baristas hired by Coca-Cola, said the marketing director of new categories of the multinational, Renato Fukuhara. He, who after much search became a passion for coffee, said the message that the company wants to pass is to stimulate consumers to prepare your own coffee, enjoying a "sensory experience through a higher quality coffee."
The coffee powder, with dark or medium roast, in packs of 250 grams, will cost R$ 9.50. Already the beans, with 500 grams, $ 25. In the package, which has similarities with the maté, come say "exported from Brazil to Brazilians", a play on the idea, common in the country, of which the best quality coffee goes to the outside.
In the package there is a special valve to expel gases of own coffee, but without letting the air between, impairing the quality of the product, said Fukuhara. The offer in capsules is not yet on the radar of Coca-Cola, although it is not ruled out.
Today the company sells coffee in Japan as cold drink, where there is the greatest demand for this type of product in the world, said Hagen. In the United States there are "ready to drink", also to consume ice cream, Illy brand. The product was developed by a joint venture between Italy''s illycaffe and The Coca Cola Company.
In Brazil, the fruits of the coffee of Coca-Cola are purchased from producers of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo. For the most part, are already facing the smallholders plantation of fruit for the preparation of gourmet coffee. Roasting is in charge of the Royal Café, Espirito Santo group Tristan.
In turn, producers of Acai and Guarana in the Amazon, mostly in low-income regions receive direct assistance from Coca-Cola. On May 31, the company launched the Eyes of the forest, back to the cultivation of the fruit Guarana. In partnership with the NGO Management Institute and agricultural and forest certification (Imaflora), the project operates in the city of Presidente Figueiredo, 107 kilometers from Manaus.
The production will be combined with other cultures. The proposal is that the Guarana from the Amazon is certified, with control along the chain, from planting to the final product. The goal is that by 2020, 350 families are involved in the production of the fruit of the Guarana bought by Coca-Cola.
"We have eco-tourism, with more than 100 beautiful waterfalls. We also have cassiterite mining (where ore is extracted the Tin), but it lacked alternatives to develop and create opportunities for producers. Many are already involved in the new project, says Neilson Cavalcante, Mayor of the city.
At Presidente Figueiredo is also the Balbina plant. But the mayor points out that times are especially difficult, because the reservoirs are very low due to lack of rainfall, which reduces the royalties to the city, which has about 28000 inhabitants.
Coca-Cola Brazil is present in the Amazon for 30 years, because soda syrup factory in Manaus. In 2013, launched the Acai juice with banana with the Mark Del Valle. The acai berry comes from native trees and to support the strengthening of the productive chain of the fruit, with the project christened Collective forest, works closely with Acai pullers in ten municipalities of Amazonas.
The journalist traveled at the invitation of Coca-Cola