(KRON) — Blue Bottle Coffee was founded in 2002 as a small business in Oakland. Nearly 25 years later, it has grown into a global coffee empire.
According to multiple reports from Bloomberg and Caixin International, Blue Bottle’s current parent company Nestlé is close to reaching an agreement to sell a majority stake in the Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee’s parent company (Dacheng Capital Management Co., Ltd.).
According to Caixin, the majority stake was sold for less than $400 million.
Long-time Berkeley restaurant famous for potato puffs opens first San Francisco location
Nestlé is reportedly seeking full ownership of the Bay Area-founded company for $700 million, Caixin reported. The store reported that the actual selling price would be a “significant discount” from Nestlé’s request.
Luckin Coffee was established in China in 2017 and opened its first U.S. store in New York in 2025. In the United States, Luckin Coffee only has cafes in New York City, but has more than 30,000 stores worldwide.
The deal comes as no surprise, as Reuters reported in December that Nestlé was looking to sell its stake in Blue Bottle Coffee.
Nestle had no comment when asked by KRON4 about the reported deal. Blue Bottle representatives did not respond to KRON4’s inquiries.
Nestlé acquired Blue Bottle in 2017. According to Bloomberg, Luckin Coffee’s company market value is approximately US$9.5 billion.
Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu appeared at East Bay Target
Founded nearly 25 years ago, Blue Bottle has expanded to more than 100 locations around the world, including Japan, South Korea and China. There are currently 25 Blue Bottle cafes in the Bay Area, including 13 in San Francisco, 3 in the East Bay, and 8 in the South Bay.
Blue Bottle also has a dozen locations in New York. Over the years, its fan base has grown, with more than 509,000 followers on its Instagram page and 157,000 followers on Facebook.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports and streaming videos, head to KRON4.
