For the past 35 years I have been involved with the coffee industry. During that period of time I have seen many brewing concepts and innovations come to the market.
Approximately 7 years ago we saw the birth of the single-serve cartridge. We immediately embraced this concept as it offered diversity of products within a controlled platform, but at an unusually high price. Our test marketing indicated a broad acceptance, with the conception, though, that consistent quality and convenience offset the variance of price with more conventional systems.
Over the next few years this concept started to dominate our business. What we perceived as a major challenge, based partly on feedback from our customers, was the growing movement around the world to become a more ecologically friendly place. Keurig’s imminent launch at the time of a retail concept in this platform was illogical with respect to the direction of products and packaging towards more earth-friendly choices. Further to this, all the equipment that we had seen and experienced to date was not reliable.
These factors prompted us to develop a product that is recyclable, and a line of equipment that is more versatile. This enables us to create two distinct channels of trade with a minimum of duplication of production.
Over the next 2 years, through a process outlined elsewhere, we brought to market products that met these criteria. After many years of testing, research and development, and a focus on contributing to an earth-friendly environment, we feel we are in a position to (take advantage of the weaknesses of our competitors and) move more aggressively into the marketplace.
Robert Hale
President
worldbestcoffeeblog 