The slim packaging, which resembles a tube of raw or cane sugar, is a
good selling point, as is the massive distribution chain: Via will be sold at Starbucks' stores, Costcos and Targets. But although
there are a lot of opportunities in the $21 billion
worldwide instant coffee market, you have to wonder if Starbucks
won't end up like Krispy Kreme: once a luxury good made by a company
that needed to go into bankruptcy to survive.
If the Starbucks
flavor can be recreated in an instant coffee package, there's less
reason to go to Starbucks. You could make the argument that ground
coffee from Starbucks is already widely available, but at least the idea of
premium ground coffee is a logical brand extension for the coffee
chain. Instant coffee? That idea sounds as stale as a day-old grocery
store donut.
[Image via Flickr: senor via]
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web crawlers will send email alerts whenever they find certain keywords.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to this. I lived overseas a few years ago and drank a lot of instant coffee, as it was much more common. I actually started really liking it, partly because I could vary the flavor of it pretty easily. But it also actually tasted really good (I tended to prefer the Nescafe "bold" flavors). I don't know if Starbucks' instant coffee will be any good, but I think it's fair to at least give it a shot.
Instant coffee has come a LONG way since Taster's Choice.
Mr. Little is correct in stating that Krispy Kreme's parent corporation has never filed for bankruptcy. However, several franchisees have filed for bankruptcy in the past five years, which has led to a big contraction in the company's store base -- there are currently 89 company stores and 133 franchise locations in the United States as of August 2 -- according to a recent piece in The Wall Street Journal [http://online.wsj.com/article/...].
And as The Motley Fool noted this week [http://www.fool.com/investing/...] -- Krispy Kreme currently has cash on hand of $19.6 million and debts/obligations of $113.5 million -- not a strong position for any corporation.
It never fails to amaze me when someone comes and comments on here like that.
its like someones whole job is to google certain phrases and then go comment on message boards, blogs, etc. about the topic. So weird.
Thanks for the clarification Mr. Little. Also, bring back the dozen hits/dozen donuts promotion with the Royals!
Hi Jonathan - Interesting piece. However, thought your readers should know that Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. has never filed for bankruptcy. Just wanted to make that clarification. Thanks.
Brian Little - Director of Corporate Communications for Krispy Kreme
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