After a surprise shake-up at the top, Heineken’s picked a coffee man to sort out its beer.

Big moves over at Heineken. The Dutch brewing giant has named Rafael Oliveira as its next chief executive, and it’s fair to say the appointment came out of nowhere.

As reported by cbinewstv, Oliveira is stepping across from coffee powerhouse JDE Peet’s to take the reins at Heineken. His nomination still needs the nod from shareholders, but the plan is for him to fill the gap left by Dolf van den Brink, who stunned everyone in January when he quit.

Van den Brink’s six-year run ended on what the company called a “mixed performance”. And things haven’t exactly been smooth since. Back in April, Heineken revealed beer sales had slipped nearly 1% in the first quarter. They blamed an “increasingly complex” economic climate and those stubbornly high energy prices. Then in February, they dropped news of up to 6,000 job cuts. Tough times.

So, enter Oliveira. Supervisory board chairman Peter Wennink sounds pretty optimistic: “With Rafa at the helm, we look forward to building on Heineken’s strong foundations and continuing our journey of long-term, balanced growth,” he said in a statement to cbinews.tv.

Oliveira isn’t shying away from the challenge either. “I am confident we will accelerate growth, drive productivity and future-fit Heineken, winning the hearts of consumers worldwide,” he said.

From beans to beer, let’s see if he can pour a fresh strategy for Heineken.

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