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 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.
I agree. They bought it to build the brand, not destroy it.
they probably have, the problems come when they try to maximize profit
Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -
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.
As a bespectacled guitarist the Fender/Gibson example is another good one I’m familiar with!
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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.
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.
Current setup: ACS Vesuvius, Nuova Simonelli Mythos One. Past experience, Nuova Simonelli Apia 1 gr., San Remo Capri 1 gr., Bezzera BZ 35e, Fracino Heavenly. Anfim Super Lusso.
Contact me at: john_yossarian11@yahoo.com
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.
Say hello to the “Lelit Barista Express”
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
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.
Move along, the internet is no place for your well reasoned, balanced and optimistic views.
It’s all doom, DOOM I TELL YOU
tompoland Completely agree Tom.. For sure I probably won’t be involved in testing and suggesting, but I’ve done my bit.
All speculation at this stage, but, generally it only goes one way from here on in.. another one sold out!! Whatever happens, thankfully the parts will be available as Dave said above and I and the rest of us owners will hopefully have our ‘authenticLelits’ for many years to come!
As a Lelit owner, I’d start looking into somehow downloading and documenting all of the videos of servicing your machine from Lelit Insider on YouTube. I’d imagine larger companies not in agreement with teaching individuals how to DIY fixes from a legal and financial aspect.
That’ll be my to-do after seeing this thread.
I have no skin in the game so my only interest with what happens now with the Lelit acquisition, and Baratza is curiosity. These were both specialist manufacturers that catered for a specialist market - i.e. men of a certain age who spend far too much time trying to perfect coffee. Breville is large public company who make consumer products. They have shareholders and accountants on their Board. There is only ever one winner in a public company when the product development team has a disagreement with the accountants.
