it's peanut butter jelly time for bustelo
cafe Bustelo, the beloved yellow, blue and red packaging of typical, traditional, in your abuela's kitchen cafe, has been bought by Smuckers. The May $360 million dollar purchase takes the cortadito and colada brand and puts in in the hands of peanut butter and jelly people in Ohio.
What does this mean for our beloved brand of old Cuban tradition and local Miami routine? Well, it could mean that people all over may find Bustelo on their shelves, because, well... duh, with money comes power and Smuckers is a household name and could do that to Bustelo. The worry, as with any major corporate purchase, is that Bustelo will "sell out," suffer in quality, or compromise it's brand authenticity and history in some way. But it seems like the Smuckers people are sending focus groups into Miami homes to understand just what they're getting themselves into, how the product is used and what the people who have been loyal for more than fifty years to the homegrown brand will expect.
As for us, all this coffee talk is making me crave a Bustelo Cool, hasta luego.
