WATERBURY, Vt. -- Flavored water, sports drinks, sparkling water, ready-to-drink teas and craft sodas: These are the beverage categories Keurig will play in when it launches its Kold brewing system this fall, aiming “to expand our reach into more beverage categories, dayparts and beverage occasions,” said Brian Kelley, CEO of Keurig Green Mountain.
Low-Key Launch
With the initial launch planned to come online, the home-brewing equipment maker will launch the long-discussed soda machine with 16 brands, including six of its own and 10 other familiar names via the company’s partnerships with Coca-Cola Co. and Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
The low-key launch echoes Keurig’s 2004 debut of its coffee brewer, which sold 21,000 units in its first year and maintained limited growth for five years before “revolutionizing” the coffee category by making single-serve coffee brewing one of the hottest trends of the 2010s.
“We expect homes to become exciting beverage centers where consumers can experience a number of beverages they otherwise wouldn’t get to try without the new home systems,” Kelley said during a conference call this week with investors to introduce Keurig Kold and the company’s rollout plan for the product. “We don’t see a beverage category that will not be impacted,” he said, noting additional brands and beverage categories will be added over time, the first hinted to be mixers for alcohol drinks.
Kelley intends “to revolutionize cold beverages in the home just as our hot platform is revolutionizing the coffee and tea categories.”
Methodical Rollout
Following the online debut, Keurig will slowly increase retail availability through 2016 at suggested price points ranging from $299 to $369. Keurig also will offer a “Choice” payment program online that will allow consumers to pay monthly over time.
“We will drive the install base before widely distributing the pods at retail [to] create end-user demand,” vice president and general manager Tara Murphy said. “We plan for full retail distribution by holiday season 2016.”
Some investors and analysts on the call questioned the suggested price, comparing it to the $99 to $199 price for Keurig’s coffee makers. Kelley, however, said he’s confident in Keurig Kold’s suggest range.
“Consumers see this as very different from a coffee machine,” he said. “Where we as consumers have the ability to make coffee at home, we don’t have the ability to [make soft drinks]. … We’re providing multiple ways to buy—online, in retail and through the Choice program—[and] we’ve seen very high interest.”
At launch, Keurig Kold pods will be available in the following name brands:
- Canada Dry
- Coca-Cola
- Coca-Cola Life
- Coca-Cola Zero
- Diet Coke
- Dr Pepper
- Fanta
- Glaceau vitaminwater
- Gold Peak Tea
- Sprite
And Keurig proprietary brands:
- Waterful flavored water in three flavors
- Flyte sports drinks in three flavors
- Seraphine sparkling water in to flavors
- Tierney’s Iced Tea in three flavors
- Red Barn craft soda in three flavors
- Flynn’s craft soda in two flavors
The beverage pods will initially be sold in 4-packs. Each pod, which makes an 8-oz. drink, will cost between 99 cents to $1.29. The machine makes a drink in about 30 seconds, each one chilled to 39 degrees.
“We believe single-serve beverages and single-serve systems will be the means by which more and more households will be empowered to experience a new and exciting variety of beverages,” Kelley said. “We believe in-home systems will change the way consumers interact with brands because it’s consumers who actually build brands.”
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