Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
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pan demetrakakes, editor largely on the strength of its Keurig pod brewing system. Keurig, which Green Mountain acquired in 2006, is the developer of single-serve K-Cup pods. Th e K-Cup fi ts my personal criterion for a truly dynamic innovation: It looks T painfully obvious, but only in retrospect. It's a simple plastic cup fi lled with ground coff ee and topped with induction-seal foil. A Keurig brewer pierces the pod and brews a perfect cup of coff ee—or at least, one that's a lot better than the alternative, which is oſt en the dregs of a pot that's been sitting on a burner for heaven knows how long. It makes the K-Cup an attractive alternative for offi ces (including my own), as well as gas stations, waiting rooms and any other location where coff ee of indiff erent quality is oſt en consumed. Green Mountain succeeded in large part because of a smart recent decision: making K-Cup technology available to third parties. Major retailers who have taken advantage include Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts, both of whom are planning to use K-Cup pods to expand the already substantial grocery sales for their branded coff ee. (To some extent, Green Mountain's hand is being forced by the pending expiration of the K-Cup patent in September 2012.) Contrast with Nestlé, which has a similar pierce-the-pod system in Nespresso. Since introducing Nespresso in 1986, Nestlé has tried to control it down to the last coff ee bean. It markets both the machines and the pods that go into them, and allows no one else to do so. Th is business model worked great for Apple Computers. But ground coff ee, however complex and subtle it may be, is not soſt ware. And while Nespresso has consistently been lucrative for Nestlé, the company is now embroiled in lawsuits in France, Switzerland and Holland over pirated Nespresso capsules, while the Keurig system soars past. What does this all mean for the specialty coff ee retailer? Movie buff s will recognize this column's headline as a play on "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," a sci-fi classic from 1956 (there have been a couple of remakes) about an alien invasion of human lookalikes. Th ey start out as pods that bloom into identical replicas of whichever human is unfortunate enough to be nearby. Is that destined to be the fate of specialty coff ee? Will the K-Cup pod become the incubus for mechanically brewed coff ee that smells and tastes so much like the good stuff that it will confuse consumers? I don't think so. In fact, the K-Cup could be a net positive for the specialty coff ee industry by raising consumers' expectations. Th e more people are exposed to good coff ee, the more likely they are to seek it out, in whatever form. Your competitor can sometimes be your ally. Th at's true for Starbucks, which raised the general consciousness about good coff ee enormously, and it may very well hold true for the K-Cup. 4 | December 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com Invasion of the coffee snatchers he Pod People are coming. Green Mountain Coff ee Roasters has become the biggest roaster in America EDITORIAL OFFICE 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 • (847) 720-5600 Visit us online: www.specialty-coff ee.com E-mail: specialtycoffee@m2media360.com EDITORIAL STAFF Editor PRODUCTION STAFF Art Director Production Manager CIRCULATION STAFF Vice President of Circulation & Collateral Services SALES STAFF Sales Manager List Rental & Reprint Services EXECUTIVE STAFF Group Publisher CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Ed Avis, Jack Groot, Maura Keller, Caroline Rath, Alan Richman, Brenda Russell, Peter Surkowski EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Jason Burton, lab5702 Desiree Farden, Big Train, Inc. Jack Groot, JP's Coff ee And Espresso Bar Wes Herman, Th e Woods Coff ee Meghan Hubbs, Equal Exchange Rob Jeffries, North Atlantic Specialty Bag Craig Min, LAMIL Coff ee Lon LaFlamme, Dillanos Coff ee Roasters Kate LaPoint, Sound Provisions, Inc. Joe Monaghan, La Marzocco Tom Palm, Design & Layout Services Steve Schnitzler, Port City Java® Andi C. Trindle, Atlantic Specialty Coff ee Bill Waddington, TeaSource Corporate Offi ce: 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 PRESIDENT/CEO VP FINANCE & OPERATIONS VP OF CIRCULATION & COLLATERAL SERVICES PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS DIRECTOR SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION AND REQUESTS Phone (845) 856-2229 Marion Minor Gerald Winkel Joanne Juda-Prainito Mary Jo Tomei Fax (845) 856-5822 Subscriptions: $39 for one year, $61 for two years, U.S.; $48 for one year, $72 for two years, Canada; $110 for one year, all other countries (includes airmail postage). Single copies $10 each; Annual Buyers Guide $25. Payable in U.S. funds only. Customer Service: (847) 763-9565 PRESS RELEASES: Press releases on supplies, services and new products are welcomed and encouraged. Direct them to Specialty Coff ee Retailer. Color print photography is preferred, slides and transparencies are accepted. Specialty Coff ee Retailer reserves the right to edit all submissions. Pan Demetrakakes pan@m2media360.com Britt Menendez Mary Jo Tomei Joanne Juda-Prainito Brian Grau (314) 487-6568 Cheryl Naughton (678) 292-6054 Charlie Forman cforman@m2media360.com Membership applied for July 2010 Specialty Coff ee Retailer (ISSN 1077-3460) is published monthly by Bev-Al Communications, 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068. Copyright© 2010 by Bev-Al Communications Inc. Postmaster please send address corrections to: Specialty Coff ee Retailer, P.O. Box 4290, Port Jervis, NY 12771. Periodicals postage paid at Port Jervis, NY and additional mailing offi ces.