History of the Keurig Coffee Makers

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  • Author Uval
  • Published October 9, 2022
  • Word count 760

Every story starts with a dream, progresses by trial and error and if it's manufactured with quality ,then we have the ingredients to a long term success story, and maybe just maybe manifests itself into a monster brand that is easily recognizable all over the world. The Brand I am talking about is the Keurig line of Single serve coffee makers. I can honestly say that their ideas were revolutionary to say the least. To take a commercial style coffee machine and bring it into the average home was only the beginning, the real success comes from buying the machine specific k-pods and having the exclusivity of their coffee. No one can use any other coffee, not ground or beans or instant .What is even more remarkable is that people had no choice but to buy their proprietary pods. This in turn gave the company recurring revenue that was very consistent and profitable.

How 2 friends began this journey was back in 1990. The brand name was "keurig" which simply meant "Excellence" .As you can see this is where the manifestation started. They wanted to create something incredible, unique and excellent! This is where most people fail, because you have to envision yourself as the best in the world to be successful . They understood that and were ready to take on the world.

The year was 1990, John Sylvan, along with side his old-time school friend, Peter Dragone created a revolutionary product and they knew that they had something great! The new style of coffee maker was designed as an individual single serve cup of coffee. Knowing how their client base of coffee drinkers were faithful and predictable ,it only made sense to bring a product with individual amounts of coffee instead of the 12 cup drip because this meant more share value if they can get enough people on board. All this at an affordable price of course. In the beginning it seamed expensive but after some time people got used to the convenience and practicality of the pods.

The potential dream had some setbacks over the years and through trial and error ,suffering through severe caffein poisoning after testing his prototype started to blossom into its full potential. They knew that it wasn't a sprint ,but a marathon in a business that quite possible changed the direction of the coffee industry.

Their first real invention called nirvana, became to fruition after many setbacks. In 1993, Dick Sweeny joined the company with his technical know howy, where he automated the brewer and focused his efforts more on the manufacturing . Relentless he continuously made new prototypes with thousands of taste tests.

Despite all of these outstanding issues, the early Keurig model and brand grew more and more popular . Through investment support and partnership with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, they leaned to be innovative and gained a lot of technical knowledge of specialty coffee's. Sylvan and Dragone launched their first commercial style Keurig brewers in workplaces and offices in New York City and New England, in 1998. Employees of the businesses loved the convenience and rarely chose to go back to the usual drip-style brewer .

The year was 2004 when the prototype brewer was made for use in homes. Today, there are a multitude of models available for every situation since they are uniquely portable. The single-serve coffee system gave the company a competitive edge against known competitors in the industry. In early 2003, Keurig brewers as well as pods were already available in the retail stores. People just loved the single button operation and convenience.

In 1997 everything began heading in the opposite direction and downhill. Having realized the tremendous value of the Keurig system, in 2006 GMCR acquired Keurig, Inc. They united specialty coffee with their high-tech research and development and increased its distribution and took the brand globally. Through making these brewers mare easily accessible it added to the success of the company giving it the title of first single serve firm in the coffee brew category, which they still hold today. Keurig currently hold the position of the seventh-largest food and beverage company in the US.

The moral of this story of two friends with a dream is that success or failure has a beginning and an ending just like anything else ,but how you define your life and passion will dictate the direction of how your story ends. It won't always end in success , but imagine what a ride it could be!

Keurig K-Classic Single Serve Coffee Maker is one of the most popular models in the market today. Check them out!

Thank you so much!

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