Costa Coffee - Economic Audit

Supply Chain & Sourcing Relationships

No public evidence identified of any commercial relationship between Costa Coffee and Israeli agricultural aggregators or exporters such as Mehadrin, Hadiklaim, Galilee Export, or Agrexco successors, based on review of Costa’s published Modern Slavery Statements, general news search, and NGO investigation databases including Who Profits and AFSC Investigate. Costa’s most recent Modern Slavery Statement 2024-25 could not be fully retrieved this session, leaving unconfirmed whether Israel/Palestine is classified as a “high-risk” sourcing jurisdiction in Costa’s own risk mapping ¹. No public evidence identified of a dedicated Costa Coffee/Coca-Cola importer-of-record entity handling Israeli-origin goods. No public evidence identified of counter-seasonal Israeli produce sourcing patterns (e.g., dates, avocados, citrus, herbs in the Dec–Apr window) tied to Costa Coffee. No public evidence identified of Israeli-origin products reaching Costa Coffee via third-party distributors or white-label arrangements. Within the broader Coca-Cola Israel licensee corporate family, Tabor Winery - 92.5% owned by The Central Bottling Company (CBC), the independent Israeli licensee of Coca-Cola trademarks - sources grapes from vineyards in the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut (Gush Etzion bloc) and the occupied Golan Heights settlements of Ortal and Keshet ². CBC’s subsidiary, Central Beverage Distribution Company, operates a regional distribution center and cooling houses in the Atarot Industrial Zone in occupied East Jerusalem, an Israeli settlement industrial zone, with this operation documented as current in a Who Profits profile last updated 10 February 2025 ³⁴. No public evidence identified that Costa-branded products specifically transit the Atarot facility, since no evidence was found that Costa Coffee brand products are sold in Israel at all.

Product Origin, Labeling & Regulatory Compliance

No public evidence identified specifically naming Costa Coffee in connection with “Produce of Israel”-labeled goods suspected of West Bank, Jordan Valley, or Golan Heights origin, following review of Who Profits, DEFRA-related reporting, and NGO corporate-occupation databases. No public evidence identified of any UK or EU customs/DEFRA enforcement action against Costa Coffee regarding country-of-origin labeling of settlement-produced goods. No public evidence identified of a Costa Coffee-specific public policy on sourcing or labeling of goods originating from occupied or contested territories. The 2024 “Don’t Buy Into Occupation” report and company matrix was reviewed for reference; No public evidence identified confirming or excluding Costa Coffee, Coca-Cola, or CBC from its financier/company listings this session ⁵.

Investment, Capital & Financial Exposure

No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee or The Coca-Cola Company directly owning factories, data centers, logistics hubs, or real estate in Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories; the Atarot distribution center and Tabor Winery vineyards are owned by CBC, an independent licensee, not by Costa Coffee or The Coca-Cola Company directly ³². The Coca-Cola Company operates “The Bridge,” a startup-commercialization program based in Tel Aviv since 2014, connecting Israeli startups across supply chain, consumer retail, marketing innovation, health & wellness, and consumer engagement sectors to Coca-Cola’s global R&D and demo-day pipeline ⁶⁷. CBC (Coca-Cola Israel) separately entered a $2 million strategic investment/collaboration agreement with Israeli cultured-dairy startup Biomilk, announced July 2021 ⁸⁹. No public evidence identified of any Costa Coffee-specific (as distinct from Coca-Cola Company-wide) R&D presence in Israel. Costa’s ultimate parent, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), is US-domiciled and publicly traded, having completed the $4.9 billion acquisition of Costa from Whitbread PLC on 3 January 2019 ¹⁰¹¹¹². CBC is privately owned by the Wertheim family (majority, ~63%), with reported minority holders Reuven Becher, Gil Orion, and Chen Amir (12.33% each) ³. David Wertheim, majority owner of CBC, is also a controlling shareholder - jointly with the Ofer family, at a combined stake of approximately 41.32% as of 31 March 2025 - of Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, a bank named on the OHCHR settlement-business database ^1314151617. Mizrahi-Tefahot is documented by Who Profits and AFSC Investigate as financing settlement construction in Ariel, Beitar Illit, Ma’ale Adumim, Modi’in Illit, Har Homa, Pisgat Ze’ev, Ramat Rachel/Ramat Shlomo, and Neve Ya’akov, and as providing settlement-council banking services ¹⁸¹⁵¹⁶. The bank operates settlement branches in Alon Shvut and Karnei Shomron and a branch in occupied East Jerusalem (Ramat Eshkol), and provides mortgages to settlers in Ariel, Beit Arye, Beitar Illit, Immanuel, and Modi’in Illit ¹⁶. No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee or The Coca-Cola Company holding disclosed portfolio positions in Israeli-domiciled companies, Israeli sovereign bonds, or Israel-focused investment funds. No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee, The Coca-Cola Company, or Costa’s corporate treasury underwriting Israeli sovereign debt, Israel Bonds, or war bonds.

Operational Presence & Market Activity

No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee-operated offices, retail stores, warehouses, or support centres in Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories; Costa Coffee’s own Wikipedia-documented list of 38 countries of operation as of January 2022 does not include Israel ¹⁹. One low-reliability, uncited web article claims Costa Coffee has operated approximately 130 cafés in Israel since 1999 via a partnership with “Shapira Restaurants”; this claim could not be corroborated by any primary source and is contradicted by Costa’s own official country list, and is treated as unverified ²⁰¹⁹. CBC’s Atarot distribution-center operation is documented as current in a Who Profits profile last updated 10 February 2025 - i.e., confirmed ongoing after both the ICJ’s 19 July 2024 advisory opinion and the ICC arrest warrants of November 2024 ³. Tabor Winery’s settlement-vineyard sourcing is documented in the same current dataset with no indication of discontinuation ². No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee or The Coca-Cola Company issuing any statement specifically addressing continuation or discontinuation of Israel/settlement-linked activity post-July 2024 or post-November 2024; Coca-Cola’s standing corporate FAQ states it does not fund military operations, but this statement is undated and generic rather than specific to post-2024 developments ²¹. CBC reports an Israeli soft-drink market share variously described as “approximately two-thirds” to 40%, with annual revenues around NIS 6 billion (~$1.6 billion) - figures pertaining to CBC’s business, not Costa Coffee’s ³²². No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee or Coca-Cola Company annual reports or investor materials characterizing an “Israel market” for the Costa brand specifically; Coca-Cola’s FY2024 Form 10-K organizes global operations by broad geographic segments without Israel-specific market commentary identified ¹². Israeli media reported that over 100,000 soldiers received Bamba and Coca-Cola-branded products in a single distribution event, indicating direct product reach to Israeli military personnel ²³.

Corporate Structure & Foundational Ties

Costa Coffee was founded in London, UK, in 1971 and is not an Israeli-founded, Israeli-headquartered, or Israeli tax-resident entity; No public evidence identified of Israeli beneficial ownership of Costa Coffee itself. Costa’s operational headquarters remain in the UK, while its ultimate parent, The Coca-Cola Company, is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, following completion of its $4.9 billion acquisition of Costa from Whitbread PLC on 3 January 2019, with $2.4 billion allocated to the Costa trademark and $2.5 billion to goodwill ¹⁰²⁴¹¹. Coca-Cola’s Israeli market is served not by a Coca-Cola-owned subsidiary but by CBC, an independent, privately held licensee controlled by the Wertheim family (62.99%/63%), with reported minority holders Becher, Orion, and Amir (12.33% each) ³. David Wertheim, who controls 63% of CBC, inherited this position from his father, Moshe “Muzi” Wertheim, who died 31 August 2016 ^3132225. Muzi Wertheim founded CBC in 1967 with US investor Abraham Feinberg, and had previously served as a Mossad agent before entering business ²². David Wertheim additionally controls Keshet Media Group (Israeli TV channel Keshet 12) and M. Wertheim (Holdings) Ltd, including a stake in Alony Hetz Properties & Investments ¹³. CBC wholly/majority owns Tabor Winery (92.5%) ². This CBC/Wertheim structure sits at arm’s length from Coca-Cola’s own governance - CBC is an independent third-party licensee of Coca-Cola trademarks in Israel, not a Costa Coffee or Coca-Cola Company subsidiary. No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee’s own named executives, Chair, board members, or ≥10% shareholders holding personal or family-office investments in Israeli companies beyond the CBC/Wertheim linkage. On regulatory/institutional designation: Costa Coffee does not appear by name in the OHCHR settlement-business database in its 2020, 2023, or 2025 iterations, nor in secondary summaries of the Special Rapporteur’s 2025 named-companies annex ^{17426272829303132}. The Coca-Cola Company is likewise not confirmed as formally listed in the OHCHR database, though secondary sources note public criticism regarding its Atarot-linked operations and a reported omission from the 2023 update despite alleged settlement-linked activity ⁴. By contrast, Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot - the bank in which CBC’s controlling family holds its stake - was named on the OHCHR’s 12 February 2020 database of 112 business enterprises for “banking and financial operations helping to develop, expand or maintain settlements” ^1742627; Norway’s pension fund KLP divested from the bank on 5 July 2021 citing this listing ¹⁷. The UN Special Rapporteur’s A/HRC/59/23 report (2 July 2025) reportedly comprises approximately 1,000 corporate entities across eight sectors; a third-party summary of named companies reviewed does not include Costa Coffee, Coca-Cola, CBC, or Mizrahi Tefahot, though this absence in a partial secondary summary is not conclusive as to the full annex ³¹³². No public evidence identified of Israeli state ownership, government board appointees, government contracts, or critical-infrastructure designation applying to Costa Coffee. No public evidence identified of golden shares, founder shares, or charter provisions tying Costa Coffee’s operations to the Israeli state.

Profit Repatriation & Economic Contribution

No public evidence identified of any disclosed Costa Coffee revenue attributed to an Israeli market, as no Costa Coffee commercial presence in Israel was identified. At the parent level, Coca-Cola Company profits flow from its global operations - including the wholly owned Costa business unit - to its Atlanta-headquartered corporate structure ¹⁰¹¹¹²; CBC’s profits, by contrast, accrue to the privately held, Wertheim-controlled licensee entity and are not part of Coca-Cola Company’s or Costa Coffee’s consolidated financials ³. No public evidence identified of any government or industry designation of Costa Coffee’s significance within the Israeli economy; CBC is independently documented via Who Profits and business press as controlling a large share of the Israeli beverage market, but this pertains to CBC, not to Costa Coffee ³²². Coca-Cola Israel (CBC) was reported to have donated to Im Tirtzu, a group characterized in press coverage as “left-bashing” and “extremist Zionist,” in reporting dated 7 May 2017 ³³³⁴. Israeli media reported that over 100,000 soldiers received Bamba and Coca-Cola-branded products in a single distribution event, and a November 2024 BDS Movement report characterized Coca-Cola as supplying Israeli soldiers, framing this as economic support for military personnel - an advocacy-sourced characterization, flagged as such ²³³⁵. Coca-Cola’s standing corporate FAQ states, “No. Coca-Cola does not fund military operations in any country,” though this statement is generic and undated rather than specific to post-2024 developments ²¹. No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee’s own profits, donations, or economic contributions being directed to the Israeli military or settlement-linked entities; all identified linkages of this kind run through the arm’s-length CBC/Wertheim structure described above rather than through Costa Coffee or The Coca-Cola Company directly.

End Notes