What exactly a giant like Nestle gets when it buys an upstart like Blue Bottle
Big companies are good at lots of things. Managing complex supply chains. Buying in bulk to get the lowest prices from suppliers. Getting products on lots of store shelves and in front of lots of consumers.
But they're not good at everything. Like being cool.
Which is why, over the past few years, big brands have gone on a buying spree, snapping up small, hip, high-end companies that have the kind of image and street cred that some multinational conglomerates have acknowledged they are unable to create on their own.
In the latest deal in the space, announced last week, Nestle, the world's largest food and beverage company, is buying Oakland, Calif.'s Blue Bottle Coffee, a
