When you hear that a multinational has acquired a small coffee shop, don’t be too quick to believe it was random.
Most times, the shop was part of their hidden experiment budget. They send someone to test a new flavor, a new service, or a new model, far away from the parent brand.
Because if a risky experiment fails under the main brand, it damages the brand’s reputation. But if it fails as a small unknown company, nobody connects it to them.
And if it wins the parent company simply “buys” it back and scales it worldwide. That’s how brands like Nestlé and Coca-Cola stay relevant for decades.