Strauss Group to streamline coffee business with Café Elite sale

Strauss Group’s headquarters in Shoham, Israel | Photo credit: via Shutterstock

Strauss Group has announced plans to further streamline its global operations with an agreement to sell its Café Elite coffee chain in Israel. 
 

The Israeli food and beverage giant has not disclosed the prospective buyer. However, in a press release Strauss Group indicated the coffee chain was not considered one of its core businesses in Israel and said it was working to complete the transaction for an amount ‘that is immaterial to the group’. 

Strauss Group launched Café Elite in 2003 after acquiring a minority stake in the small-format Israeli coffee chain Coffee To Go, which it began rebranding the following year. 

The small-format coffee chain operated 75 outlets across Israeli train stations, hospitals, universities and workplaces Israel when Strauss Group completed a full acquisition in 2008 but has since been downsized to 21 stores. 

Strauss Group has divested several assets over the last 18 months as it seeks to boost profitability, streamline operations and focus on its core Israeli businesses.  

In February 2024, the food and beverage group completed the sale of its Serbian coffee roasting division Strauss Adriatic d.o.o. and coffee brands Doncafe and C kafa to Atlantic Grupa, before divesting its 50% stake in dips and spreads joint venture Sabra Obela to PepsiCo in the following November. 
 

“We have concluded the first year of implementing our revised strategy, in which we focused and strengthened our core business, adjusted our organisational structure to support future growth, continued to invest in production sites and infrastructure, built growth drivers, as well as optimised our portfolio to improve our financial and business resilience,” said Shai Babad, CEO, Strauss Group. 

Strauss Group’s net revenues reached a record NIS 11.2m ($3bn) in the 12 months ended 31 December 2024. The group’s international coffee business achieved 7.9% year-on-year sales growth to reach NIS 4.7bn ($1.2bn), with Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine all posting notable revenue growth. 

Coffee sales in Brazil, where Strauss Group has a 50% share in the Três Corações joint venture (3C), grew 13% to NIS 3.1bn ($853m). The group’s coffee sales in Israel increased 4.7% year-on-year to NIS 830m ($226m). 

Despite broad revenue growth for the segment, rising green coffee prices negatively impacted Strauss Group’s profits last year. The food and beverage group closed 2024 with NIS 752m ($205m) operating profit at group level. However, operating profit fell 13% year-on-year in its international coffee reporting segment to NIS 214m ($58m) and 12% for its coffee business in Israel to NIS 95m ($26m).