It is a fact: we are drinking less and less sweetened drinks. For some multinationals, including Coca-Cola, this means a drop in profits. This would naturally lead to restructuring.
The unions want clarification of the situation because the deterioration of the working environment is becoming more and more alarming.
Indeed, in 15 years, Coca-Cola has undergone 26 restructurings in Belgium alone.
Employees complain that Coca-Cola lacks transparency while undergoing a major transformation. Since sweetened drinks have become associated with junk food, fewer and fewer people are consuming these drinks. So Coca-Cola had to act. The multinational has acquired the Costa coffee chain, a market that is clearly very promising.
Interviewed by RTBF, Guilhem Bascle, Professor in Strategy at the Louvain School of Management, describes this action as a growth driver since the hot drinks sector is growing by 6% each year.
Other agri-food leaders have understood this well. Nestlé has joined forces with Starbucks and Pepsi has acquired SodaStream.
Coca-Cola is only determined to follow the trend.