Another homegrown starlet sells out, eh? Boo-urns! Let's smash the seats and throw our smoothie bottles in the landfill to protest! But before we do that, we should consider that Coca-Cola's stake is a mere 10% of the business, not a controlling interest, and that the bigger firm apparently has no interest in bandying its name around — recognising that for Innocent, being strongly associated with a company accused of union murders in Colombia and alleged Nazi links wouldn't be good for business.
Then there's Innocent's much-heralded environmentalism, which boasts of using 100% recycled material in its (plastic) bottles, being "resource-efficient" and worrying about their carbon footprint. Laudable concerns, and thoroughly bragged about over at their website, but as the Guardian points out, "shipping manufactured juices in plastic bottles around Europe in vans [isn't] exactly planet-loving".
Fans of their drink (including many at Londonist) should be pleased that a home-grown company is expanding during a recession, and not be overly concerned at a deal that is more felicitous booster than Faustian bargain.
