Get ready for more K Cup options.
Keurig Dr. Pepper announced Monday it is buying European company JDE Peet’s with plans to create two new independent companies to take on the beverage world on two fronts.
One will focus on coffee while the other beverage types go their own way.
Who are these companies?
JDE Peet’s is a multinational company based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Its partial namesake “Peet’s” coffee began in California in the 1960s while JDE was a Dutch company created from the merger of a Dutch coffee maker and a German grocery.
It bills itself as the world’s largest pure-play coffee and tea company and includes brands such as Peet’s, L’OR, Jacobs, Senseo, Tassimo, Douwe Egberts, Old Town, Super, Pickwick and Moccona.
Keurig Dr. Pepper was formed in 2018 when the owners of Keurig Green Mountain coffee company acquired the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.
Aside from Keurig and Dr. Pepper, its brands include Canada Dry, Mott’s, A&W, Penefiel, Snapple, 7-UP, Green Mountain Roasters, GHOST, Clamato, Core Hydration and The Original Donut Shop.
About the transaction
KDP says it will purchase all shares of JDE Peet’s in an all-cash tender.
The new Global Coffee Co. will be spun off after the acquisition is final. Its global headquarters will be located in Burlington, Mass., with an international headquarters in Amsterdam.
Frisco, Texas, will be the home of the Beverage Co.
Why the merger?
In a press release, Keurig Dr. Pepper says the new coffee company will be positioned to dominate the coffee industry thanks to ownership of brands in all coffee segments, channels and price points.
(Control of the most popular single-cup delivery system might not hurt, either.)
The Beverage Co. will be left try to compete in a crowded beverage market in which its flagship product has been rising recently.
Dr. Pepper passed Pepsi to move into the No. 2 spot in the race to be America’s best-selling soda brand in 2024, trailing only Coca-Cola.
Its parent company says Dr. Pepper did $5 billion in sale last year while Canada Dry did over $1 million.
In a recent study it commissioned, KDP found 52% of Americans need coffee first thing in the morning and 59% said they would rather go without breakfast than miss their hit of caffeine.
Additionally, 58% said caffeinated soft drinks are their first choice for a treat while 72% of Gen Z respondents try new beverages monthly.
The company also observed a rise in “sober-curiosity” with the study finding less than 40% of Gen Z chose alcohol as their go-to social beverage.
Overall, 82% of Americans said drinking their favorite beverage “helps restore their mental health.”
Those are trends the these new companies will hope continue in the United States and beyond.
