WATERBURY, VT. — Keurig Green Mountain, a business unit of JAB Holding Co., is discontinuing the manufacture and sale of its Keurig Kold system. Launched in 2015, the cold beverage dispensing system was viewed as a leading effort to bring greater scale to the in-home, single-serve cold beverage market.
“We view our initial Kold system launch as a pioneering execution,” the company said. “We learned a lot — including that consumers are willing to embrace the concept of a system that delivers fresh-made, cold beverages in the home — and we’ll build our learnings into future beverage systems.
“After careful review and consideration though, we are discontinuing the first generation of Keurig Kold as of today and we are offering consumers a refund for the full purchase price of their Kold drink makers.”
It did not take the company long to make the decision to discontinue the system. The Kold platform was launched on-line this past fall and it had a suggested retail price ranging between $299 and $369.
The discontinuation of the Kold system may pose issues for the company. Media reports in Vermont noted as part of the discontinuation, the company has laid off 100 employees in the state.
In addition, in June 2014, the company announced plans to open a manufacturing plant in Douglasville, Ga., for the manufacturing of pods for the Kold platform. At the time, Keurig Green Mountain said it planned to invest $337 million during the following five years. The company said that with the discontinuation of the system they will not start-up the Douglasville plant and are undecided about future plans for the site.
Finally, Keurig Green Mountain entered into agreements with such notable beverage companies as The Coca Cola Co. and Dr Pepper Snapple Group to include their brands as part of the system. Both companies had entered into multi-year agreements with Keurig to be the exclusive single-serve pod-based cold beverage dispensing system for their brands.