https://themarketherald.com.au/breville-group-asxbrg-to-acquire-italian-specialty-coffee-company-lelit-2022-03-11/ Hopefully they will continue to operate as subsidiary and maintain quality while improving supply chain.

They bought Baratza back in 2020, but that brand remains intact. I wonder if the same will happen with Lelit.

Wow. I hope Lelit doesn’t change much, but “A pre-acquisition restructure of the LELIT Group has commenced, with key members and the founders of LELIT joining the Breville Group” That alone could be quite meaningful…

The one hesitancy I had when buying the Bianca was whether when spending that kind of money I should’ve gone with a name with a more recognisable heritage. Maybe I should’ve saved for that Linea Mini after all… Question is should I sell the Bianca before the value inevitably plummets.

Will it be any different from VW owning Porsche, or Fiat owning Ferrari ?

Breville to acquire Lelit

JahLaza

Well, will they start to use cheaper parts under the hood to squeeze out more greedy profits? That’s what happens with all our recognised food brands for example when the big fish buy them. Hope not, but who knows at this stage. It is slightly encouraging to hear members of the Lelit team will join the group but I guess it’s all vague at this stage

MediumRoastSteam

Or Smeg owning La Pavoni, or Philips buying the Gaggia brand.

As long as they keep their ethos, it should be good. Breville would give them the business know-how, give them a cash injection so they potentially could expand the business and improve their machines.

However… Breville already makes coffee machines in the same segment. In fact, they acquired a direct competitor on the lower lower/mid product ranges, (Victoria, Grace, Kate, Elizabeth) but there’s no similar on the upper range (MaraX, Bianca, Giulietta). Also Lelit has two divisions: coffee machines and steam irons. I’m assuming the acquisition was for both divisions.

Oh well. Big fish eats small fish.

My main concern will be availability of spares, electronics, gaskets, valves, hearing elements, boilers, pumps, etc.

@DavecUK - how’s that going to affect your relationship with Lelit?

DavecUK

MediumRoastSteam @DavecUK - how’s that going to affect your relationship with Lelit?

I don’t know, just found out from this thread, it depends on how independent they are. I guess this reflects just how successful they have been and how many people have purchased their machines.

I wouldn’t think spares are a problem, as most internal parts will be generic.

gotters

I assume this is the Aussie Breville, known as Sage in the UK, which isn’t to be confused with the makers of £5 sandwich toasters sold in Argos when you were a kid.

The Sage/Breville gear is pretty decent mid to higher range consumer goods. Some of their stuff is pretty obsessively made too, like the waffle iron, vacuum blenders or in particular the Pizzaiolo oven.

Ernie1

My main concern is parts/repair longevity in future for pre-Breville Lelit machines. I’ve not had any first hand experience with Sage products so I don’t know what repair/parts availability is like.

I know they make quality appliances and I’ve been coveting the Pizzaiolo, but I never really saw my Bianca as an appliance.

But if they discontinue support for any ‘legacy’ Lelit machines then that is really going to suck.

Some people may not mind but I’m tempted to put my Bianca up for sale and get something from one of the more established Italian brands.

dutchy101

I am not sure it is likely to affect the value of machines like the Bianca, it may even make pre-Breville acquired Biancas more desireable a few years down the line.

Ernie1

dutchy101

I guess that’s the other way it could go, and happens in other industries;

I was shopping for glasses recently (and being typically nerdy about it) and saw that items from Luxottica-owned brands (RayBan, Oliver Peoples etc) become sought-after if they’re from pre-buyout stock.

Where are Sage/Breville machines made?

Ernie1

DavecUK

I almost started a thread recently about how much of the Bianca is generic E61/rotary parts.

If I can maintain and service the machine for many years then I’m not worried about resale value as I’d rather keep it. If most parts are just generic parts that would be ideal.

DavecUK

Ernie1 The other thing to consider, why would Breville pay so much for a company, just to stop doing what made it so valuable. I can see this adding to the coverage of Breville in the Coffee environment. Especially at the higher level prosumer segment.

tompoland

I agree. They bought it to build the brand, not destroy it.

Sham

tompoland No they bought the brand to make money… Which often does lead to lower quality in the short term when a director wants to justify their high salary (or get some fat bonuses). The only difference is whether they’re looking for short term or long term profits which wholly depends on the CEO and board. Bit of a gamble most of the time which way it’ll go.

Cuprajake

they probably have, the problems come when they try to maximize profit

Stevebee

Cuprajake maybe the V is still on offer 😁

CafeNoir

limelight Oh dear, Not a fan. Much prefer a large number of smaller companies than umbrella-style multinationals. Competition and diversity are not just pretty words

Cuprajake

Stevebee maybe the V is still on offer

haha, im happy with the ‘b’ just always fancied the Vesuvius

Gagaryn

Dunno, I’m less confident. The spectacle frame analogy is a good one, companies that once made quality frames like Oliver Peoples, Rayban and Oakley started to churn out tat after the Luxottica take over. Going back even longer and more niche but Fender started making worse guitars when taken over by CBS in 1965. Likewise Gibson made much worse guitars after the Norlin take-over in 1969.

Big companies get big by maximising profit i.e. cutting costs and selling to bigger market. The quality needs to be adequate rather than excellent. I expect similar changes will be made at Lelit.

Ernie1

Gagaryn

As a bespectacled guitarist the Fender/Gibson example is another good one I’m familiar with!

The Bianca is somewhat unique in its features for price-point ratio, hence its popularity I suppose. Given that it’s barely a few hundred more than the Oracle, and actually lower priced than the Oracle Touch, for a machine in a completely different league, I can see the merit in trying to eliminate the competition.

£100mil isn’t an obscenely huge sum of money these days (in business terms…). Whilst I’m hopeful it’s a positive acquisition for Lelit fans/owners, I’ll reserve my space very much on the fence on this one.

dfk41

Gagaryn Surely this argument is only for machines built under the new regime?

John_Yossarian

It will depend on the strategy. Sometimes a brand is bought and cherished with little interference, but more often than not, “simplification and downsizing” are the reasons for buying out a company.
Let’s hope Lelit are left to do what they do best with improved supply chain and not at the expense fo their quality in the future.
For me two years ago it was between Bianca and the V. I went for the latter.

drdre89

Say hello to the “Lelit Barista Express”

Dusk

Whether they look to change materials or manufacturing methods to save money is an unknown (let’s hope not) but I can’t imagine they would look to change the Sage or Lelit models. I don’t expect they have much overlap in their respective target markets so keeping the distinctive brands would make sense

tompoland

As has been mentioned, they bought Baratza back in 2020 and they kept their brand values alive. They don’t buy brands to denigrate them, they buy them to build them. Putting plastic on a Lelit would be just plain dumb, and Breville ain’t dumb. Fiat got better after VW bought them. Same for Rolls Royce after BMW. A company does not spend AU$173 million to acquire a quality, specialist brand like Lelit with an intent to compromise the very values such as quality and innovation that were the reasons for the brands market share. My prediction is that Lelit’s values will be preserved, that they will benefit greatly from more R&D funding and their distribution network will grow exponentially.

Mark-drinks-coffee

tompoland

Move along, the internet is no place for your well reasoned, balanced and optimistic views.

It’s all doom, DOOM I TELL YOU

DavecUK

tompoland Completely agree Tom.. For sure I probably won’t be involved in testing and suggesting, but I’ve done my bit.

MediumRoastSteam

tompoland Fiat got better after VW bought them

Is that so? Are you sure FIAT is owned by VW? I wasn’t aware.