Military Audit: Costa Coffee
# V-MIL Domain Audit — Costa Coffee
**Date:** 28 June 2026 | **Audit Phase:** V-MIL
---
## Corporate Structure — Prefatory Note
Costa Coffee was acquired by The Coca-Cola Company from Whitbread PLC on 3 January 2019 for approximately $5.1 billion [^1][^42]. Costa Coffee operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company, headquartered in Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, UK [^2]. Philippe Schaillee was appointed CEO in April 2023 [^3].
Coca-Cola's Israeli beverage franchise is held by the **Central Bottling Company (CBC)**, a privately held Israeli company owned by the Wertheim family, also known as Coca-Cola Israel [^4]. CBC operates as a licensee and franchisee of Coca-Cola, structurally independent from the Costa Coffee operating entity [^4]. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign and BDS National Committee target Costa Coffee as a Coca-Cola brand, with attributable conduct being CBC's documented settlement activities [^8][^9]. No public evidence of Costa Coffee-branded retail locations within Israel or Israeli settlements was identified in this research session.
The corporate chain relevant to this audit is: The Coca-Cola Company (parent) → Costa Coffee (wholly owned operating subsidiary, no Israeli operations); and, separately, The Coca-Cola Company (parent) → CBC (Israeli beverage licensee) → settlement-zone distribution centre, winery, and dairy farm operations [^1][^4][^42].
---
## Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement
No public evidence identified of any contracts, tender awards, framework agreements, or memoranda of understanding between Costa Coffee (or The Coca-Cola Company) and the Israeli Ministry of Defence, Israel Defence Forces, Israel Prison Service, Israel Border Police, or any other Israeli state security body, covering beverage supply, catering, logistics, or any other goods or services.
No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee or CBC appearing in SIBAT defence export catalogues, international defence exhibition directories, or Israeli military procurement registries.
No public evidence identified of any corporate press release, official announcement, or government notification describing defence cooperation between Costa Coffee and any Israeli defence entity.
---
## Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants
Costa Coffee is a retail coffee and beverage brand [^2]. No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee manufacturing or marketing ruggedised, tactical, mil-spec, or defence-grade product variants for any military or security end-user.
No public evidence identified of dual-use product lines applicable to the V-MIL domain for Costa Coffee or The Coca-Cola Company in relation to Israeli defence procurement.
No public evidence identified of export licence applications, end-user certificates, or government export control reviews related to Costa Coffee products for Israeli defence or security end-users.
---
## Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure
**CBC Settlement Infrastructure (group attribution via Coca-Cola's Israeli licensee):**
CBC's wholly owned subsidiary, the Central Beverage Distribution Company, operates a regional distribution centre and cooling facilities in the **Atarot Industrial Zone, Occupied East Jerusalem** [^4][^7]. The Atarot Industrial Zone was established in 1970 on land appropriated from Palestinian villages [^24] and is classified as an illegal settlement under international law [^26]. Who Profits documents this facility under the categories "Settlement Enterprise" and "Settlement Production" [^4], a finding corroborated by Ethical Consumer citing Who Profits data [^7].
CBC's wholly owned subsidiary **Tabor Winery** produces wines from grapes sourced from vineyards in the Occupied West Bank (near Har Bracha) and the Occupied Syrian Golan Heights (near Mount Shifon) [^4]. CBC's subsidiary **Tara Dairy** operates a farm in **Shadmot Mehola**, a settlement in the Occupied Jordan Valley [^4][^17]. Tara Dairy was acquired by CBC for $39 million in 2004 [^16].
The former Atarot Airport, adjacent to the Atarot Industrial Zone, was reportedly repurposed for IDF use as a forward post during the Second Intifada, following an agreement between the Airport Authority and the Israeli Defence Ministry [^25]. This relates to the airport site only; No public evidence identified linking CBC's distribution centre specifically to IDF base services.
**Attribution and Scope:**
CBC is a Coca-Cola beverage licensee operating independently from the Costa Coffee entity [^4]. The settlement infrastructure (distribution centre, winery, dairy farm) belongs to CBC and its subsidiaries, not to Costa Coffee directly [^4]. Coca-Cola's official position characterises this arrangement as partnering "with local franchises to serve local communities" [^13].
No public evidence identified of any Costa Coffee or CBC contracts for the construction, maintenance, or expansion of Israeli military checkpoints, detention facilities, the separation barrier, or military base infrastructure.
---
## Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes
No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee or CBC supplying components, sub-systems, raw materials, or manufacturing services to Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, IMI Systems, or any other Israeli defence prime contractor.
CBC made a $2 million investment in **BioMilk**, a cultivated milk technology start-up and Hebrew University spin-out, in 2021; this investment is in food biotechnology, not defence technology [^38]. No public evidence identified of joint development or co-production agreements between CBC or Costa Coffee and any defence manufacturer.
Costa Coffee UK uses **NICE (NiCE) Ltd** as one of its automatic call distribution systems in its UK contact centre, as documented in a Call Centre Helper site-visit report dated 18 June 2025 [^30]. NICE Systems was founded in 1986 by engineers from IDF Unit 8200 and historically produced communications interception tools [^31][^32]. The company has since pivoted to enterprise customer experience and contact centre software [^32]. This relationship falls outside the V-MIL domain boundary — the product's designed output produces no targeting decision or weapons effect — and is recorded here for completeness [^30][^31][^32].
---
## Logistical Sustainment & Base Services
**Claimed IDF Shekem Supply — Status: Unverified:**
Multiple secondary sources assert that CBC subsidiary Tara Dairy supplies dairy products to IDF bases via the Shekem military canteen system; however, this claim could not be verified from any named primary source in this research session [^4]. Who Profits' CBC company profile does not document this claim [^4]. No public evidence identified from contemporaneous news articles, corporate filings, or procurement records confirming Tara Dairy as an IDF Shekem supplier. This claim must be treated as unverified pending primary source discovery.
No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee providing catering, transport, fuel, waste management, facilities management, or other sustainment services to any IDF base, military training facility, or detention centre.
No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee or CBC contracts specifically servicing Israeli military cargo or arms shipments.
---
## Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms
No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee or any CBC subsidiary manufacturing, distributing, or supplying munitions, weapons systems, explosive ordnance, propellants, or precursor materials to any party.
No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee involvement in the supply of strategic platforms, armoured vehicles, naval systems, UAVs, missile systems, or components thereof.
The PAX for Peace June 2024 report "The Companies Arming Israel and Their Financiers" documents six major arms producers and their European financiers [^33]. Coca-Cola and Costa Coffee fall outside that report's documented scope [^33].
No public evidence identified of Costa Coffee or CBC appearing in any arms export notification, Foreign Military Sale, or Direct Commercial Sale record in connection with Israel or any other jurisdiction.
---
## Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History
The UK Government suspended approximately 30 arms export licences to Israel in September 2024, covering components for F-35 aircraft, UAVs, naval systems, and targeting equipment [^35]. Costa Coffee does not appear in UK export licence management data for Israel [^35].
No public evidence identified of export licence applications by Costa Coffee or CBC for Israeli defence end-users in any jurisdiction, including under the UK Export Control Order, US Export Administration Regulations, or EU dual-use regulation.
No public evidence identified of any investigation, warning notice, or enforcement action against Costa Coffee or CBC by a national export control authority in connection with arms embargoes or strategic goods regulations relating to Israel.
Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese's report A/HRC/59/23 ("From economy of occupation to economy of genocide," 2 July 2025) addresses the economic dimensions of the occupation, with paras 28–47 covering the military sector [^34]. No public evidence identified of Coca-Cola or Costa Coffee being named as entities in that report's military sector section.
No public evidence identified of judicial review, legal challenge, or parliamentary scrutiny directed at Costa Coffee in connection with arms export compliance or military supply chains.
---
## Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations
**NGO Documentation:**
Who Profits Research Center (profile valid to 10 February 2025) documents CBC under the categories "Settlement Enterprise" and "Settlement Production" for: (a) operating a regional distribution centre in the Atarot Industrial Zone, Occupied East Jerusalem; and (b) the Tabor Winery subsidiary producing wines from vineyards in the occupied West Bank and Syrian Golan [^4]. Who Profits does not assign any military or defence category to CBC [^4].
AFSC Investigate (last updated 14 April 2025) lists Coca-Cola Co. — the US parent company — for the following: "Its Israeli licensee has a logistics center in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, and it makes wine from grapes that are grown in illegal settlements in the West Bank and Syrian Golan," citing Who Profits [^5]. Costa Coffee is not separately listed in the AFSC database [^5].
**UN OHCHR Settlement Database:**
The UN OHCHR maintains a database of business enterprises involved in activities in Israeli settlements, first published as A/HRC/43/71 in February 2020, listing 112 companies [^19]. The database was updated in June 2023 and again as A/HRC/60/19 in September 2025, expanding to 158 companies total, with 68 new additions and 7 removals [^20][^21]. Human Rights Watch welcomed the 2023 database update [^36]. The database's documented sectors include construction, security, telecommunications, banking, tourism, and transportation [^22][^23]. Neither Coca-Cola Company nor CBC could be confirmed as listed in the OHCHR database from primary source text in this research session [^18][^19][^20]. Multiple advocacy sources claim CBC was included in the 2020 database, but this could not be verified against the primary document text. This evidence gap requires direct review of the database annexes [^19][^20][^22].
**CBC Donation to Im Tirtzu (2015):**
Haaretz (7 May 2017) and the Times of Israel, both citing Israel Corporations Authority documents, confirmed that CBC donated 50,000 shekels (approximately $13,850) to Im Tirtzu, a right-wing Zionist advocacy organisation, in 2015 [^10][^12]. The New Arab also reported on the donation, citing Haaretz and the Israel Corporations Authority [^11]. Im Tirtzu has campaigned to protect the reputational interests of IDF soldiers and has been characterised in Israeli court proceedings as having similarities to fascist movements; it is a civil advocacy organisation, not a defence industry entity or military contractor [^10][^11]. The donation occurred in 2015, when Costa Coffee was still owned by Whitbread, prior to the Coca-Cola acquisition of January 2019 [^1][^42]. No public evidence identified of analogous post-2019 donations to defence-adjacent organisations.
**Boycott and Divestment Campaigns:**
The BDS National Committee added Coca-Cola to its priority boycott list in December 2024, publicly citing CBC's Atarot distribution centre in Occupied East Jerusalem as the primary grounds [^6][^5]. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign launched its "Don't Buy Apartheid" campaign in March–April 2025, explicitly naming Costa Coffee alongside other Coca-Cola brands — Schweppes, Sprite, Fanta, Innocent, Appletiser, and Smart Water — as targets [^8][^9][^39]. A national day of action was held on 5 April 2025, with PSC branch members protesting at UK supermarkets [^8][^9]. The Canary reported the campaign launch on 4 April 2025 [^39]. A backlash against a Coca-Cola advertising campaign in Bangladesh that denied ties to Israel was reported by Al Jazeera in June 2024 [^37]. TBS News reported that Coca-Cola's Israel ties extend considerably deeper than its Gaza factory, specifically referencing CBC's settlement operations [^40].
No institutional divestment decisions by pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, or asset managers specifically citing Costa Coffee's supply chain or defence activities were identified in this research session.
**UK Store Closures:**
Multiple Costa Coffee branches have closed across the UK since September 2024 [^41]. No verified causal link between store closures and boycott campaigns has been established [^41].
**Corporate Responses and Policy Statements:**
Coca-Cola VP Scott Leith characterised the company's Israeli franchise arrangement as follows: "As a global brand, we partner with local franchises to serve local communities" [^13]. Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2024, stated: "We have an Israeli bottler and a bottler in Gaza. And so we're in the business of very much every country" [^14]. The Coca-Cola Pakistan FAQ asserts that "the claim that Coca-Cola's income is transferred to Israel is completely untrue," without addressing CBC's settlement operations [^15]. No public evidence identified of any statement from Costa Coffee CEO Philippe Schaillee or Costa Coffee corporate communications specifically addressing Israel/Palestine, the PSC "Don't Buy Apartheid" campaign, or BDS boycott calls.
**Unsubstantiated Claims:**
Multiple advocacy and secondary sources assert a "partnership" between Costa Coffee and Strauss Group, a company that provides support to the IDF Golani Brigade [^28][^29]. No public evidence identified supporting this claim from primary sources. Strauss Group's documented corporate partnerships are with PepsiCo and Unilever, not Coca-Cola or Costa Coffee [^27]. No verified corporate relationship between Costa Coffee and Strauss Group has been identified [^27][^28].
**Controlling Principals:**
Philippe Schaillee was appointed Costa Coffee CEO in April 2023 [^3]. No public evidence identified of Israeli defence-industry directorships, Israeli defence prime equity holdings, or co-belligerency statements attributed to Schaillee. CBC is majority-owned by the Wertheim family, with CBC CEO Nir Levinger leading operations [^4]. No public evidence identified of CBC's controlling principals holding Israeli defence-industry directorships or undertaking military-channel acts.
---
## End Notes
[^1]: https://investors.coca-colacompany.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/958/the-coca-cola-company-completes-acquisition-of-costa-from-whitbread-plc
[^2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Coffee
[^3]: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/media-center/costa-coffee-announces-new-ceo
[^4]: https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/4081
[^5]: https://investigate.afsc.org/company/coca-cola
[^6]: https://bdsmovement.net/news/coca-cola-quenching-israel%E2%80%99s-genocidal-soldiers%E2%80%99-thirst
[^7]: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethical-campaigns-boycotts/palestine-campaigners-target-coca-cola-israeli-fresh-produce
[^8]: https://x.com/PSCupdates/status/1906617606376702355 ; https://x.com/PSCupdates/status/1908510049669890491
[^9]: https://palestinecampaign.org/campaigns/dont-buy-apartheid/
[^10]: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2017-05-07/ty-article/coca-cola-israel-donated-to-left-bashing-group-im-tirtzu/0000017f-f6fa-d887-a7ff-fefe86c30000
[^11]: https://www.newarab.com/features/coca-cola-donated-thousands-dollars-extremist-zionist-group
[^12]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/right-wing-ngo-seeks-to-conceal-coca-colas-donation/
[^13]: https://www.postguam.com/the_globe/nation/how-coca-cola-tried-and-failed-to-suppress-a-boycott-over-gaza/article_6799e746-59ea-11ef-9e95-df25705b0de9.html
[^14]: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2024-01-18/coca-cola-ceo-on-obesity-drugs-israel-war-diet-soda-video
[^15]: https://www.coca-cola.com/pk/en/about-us/faq/why-do-people-think-you-have-connections-to-israel-is-this-claim-true
[^16]: https://www.haaretz.com/2004-04-29/ty-article/coca-cola-israel-buys-tara-number-3-in-dairy-sector/0000017f-ea51-d4a6-af7f-fed759ac0000
[^17]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_(Israel)
[^18]: https://www.ohchr.org/en/business/bhr-database
[^19]: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/reports/ahrc4371-database-all-business-enterprises-involved-activities-detailed-paragraph
[^20]: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc6019-database-all-business-enterprises-involved-activities-detailed
[^21]: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-human-rights-office-updates-database-businesses-involved-israeli
[^22]: https://investigate.afsc.org/updates/un-list
[^23]: https://www.opensanctions.org/datasets/ps_ohchr_settlement/
[^24]: https://www.alhaq.org/publications/16929.html
[^25]: https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/77856
[^26]: https://peacenow.org.il/en/settlements/settlement159-en
[^27]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss_Group
[^28]: https://palestinecampaign.org/psc-company/strauss-group-ltd/
[^29]: https://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/01/02/131872
[^30]: https://www.callcentrehelper.com/site-visit-costa-coffee-contact-centre-258572.htm
[^31]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NiCE
[^32]: https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3724503,00.html
[^33]: https://paxforpeace.nl/publications/the-companies-arming-israel-and-their-financiers/
[^34]: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5923-economy-occupation-economy-genocide-report-special-rapporteur
[^35]: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-suspends-around-30-arms-export-licences-to-israel-for-use-in-gaza-over-international-humanitarian-law-concerns
[^36]: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/05/human-rights-organizations-welcome-release-ohchrs-update-un-database-businesses
[^37]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/12/coca-cola-ad-in-bangladesh-sparks-backlash-for-denying-ties-with-israel
[^38]: https://nocamels.com/2021/07/coca-cola-israel-biomilk-central-bottling-agreement/
[^39]: https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2025/04/04/dont-buy-apartheid-campaign/
[^40]: https://www.tbsnews.net/features/panorama/yes-coke-has-gaza-factory-its-israel-ties-run-much-deeper-874451
[^41]: https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/every-costa-closed-uk-full-list-5HjdPrF_2/
[^42]: https://cdn.whitbread.co.uk/media/2021/02/15101654/press-release-31-08-2018.pdf ```