Coca-Cola is buying the British coffee chain Costa Coffee for $5.1 billion, it was announced on Friday.
However, I can't work out why.
The obvious answer is because Costa has, for many years, dominated the UK coffee market, growing from 39 to nearly 4,000 outlets worldwide in 13 years.
It is China's second-biggest coffee chain behind Starbucks, boasting over 400 stores (and counting) in the country.
Read more:This map shows Costa Coffee's massive international reach
In the past financial year, Costa made £1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) in revenue.
Financially, the buyout might make sense — but I can't figure out why anyone goes to the coffee chain in the first place.
Costa Coffees are omnipresent in London, where I live, so I recently visited one of the stores for an experience comparable to every other time I have been to a Costa Coffee: utterly underwhelming.
I went to the Costa Coffee on Whitechapel High Street in East London, near Business Insider's UK headquarters. The area boasts a plethora of chain coffee shops such as Pret a Manger, Caffe Nero, and Starbucks, as well as a smattering of independent stores.
Inside, Costa Coffee is a very bog-standard coffee shop. The decor, much like the food, is bland and inoffensive without being particularly nice. The store has no particular theme or style — it's just ... "coffee shop."
Costa offers a range of food along with its coffees, including paninis, wraps, and salads. Customers can also buy snacks like crisps and nuts, as well as cold drinks like orange juice and — ironically — Pepsi.
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