Coffee maker
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.
(
GMCR
) has stepped into the wellness category by unveiling its new
product line of Wellness Brewed beverages. It is a collection
of new drinks packed with antioxidant vitamins.
The Wellness Brewed beverages K-Cup packs are exclusively
available online at WellnessBrewed.com, GreenMountainCoffee.com,
and Keurig.com. The price starts from $17.49 per 24-count box.
Three varieties of coffee rich in antioxidants and Green
Mountain Coffee Focus Blend rich in L-theanine, an amino acid found
in tea were unveiled on September 6, 2012. Two more 'Vitamin Burst'
drinks were offered early this summer also form a part of the
Wellness Beverage line.
The new healthy beverages are available in six varieties,
namely, Green Mountain Coffee Antioxidant Blend, Green Mountain
Coffee Focus Blend, Celestial Seasonings Antioxidant Max Blackberry
Pomegranate Green Tea, Celestial Seasonings Antioxidant Max Blood
Orange Star Fruit Green Tea, Vitamin Burst Strawberry Pomegranate
and Vitamin Burst Acai Berry.
While Wellness Brewed and Green Mountain Coffee are part of
Green Mountain's Specialty Coffee business unit, Celestial
Seasonings is a registered trademark of Celestial Seasonings, Inc.,
a subsidiary of
The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.
(
HAIN
)
The new endeavor by the company was well accepted by the
investing community and it is evident from the fact that the share
price jumped 13.2% to $27.83 on September 7, 2012; within 24 hours
after the company announced its new Wellness Beverage line.
This new venture in the wellness category may help the company
to boost its sales as customers are becoming more health conscious.
Green Mountain followed the path of other beverage makers like
Coca Cola Company
(
KO
) and
Starbucks Corporation
(
SBUX
), whose good for health drinks were hits in the market. Coca Cola
in 2010 offered vitamin rich mineral water bottles and Starbucks
forayed into health drinks by acquiring juice company Evolution
Fresh last year in November.
The new innovation comes at a time when the main K-Cup patents
are going to end in 2012. Well-known brands and close competitors
like Starbucks Corporation and
Caribou Coffee Company Inc.
(
CBOU
) will have other alternatives, which will hurt Green Mountain's
fundamentals. Competition for Green Mountain's business unit Keurig
is expected to increase soon with Starbucks planning to launch its
own single-cup at-home coffee machine called Verismo this year.
Currently, Green Mountain holds a Zacks #3 Rank, which implies a
short-term Hold rating.
CARIBOU COFFEE (CBOU): Free Stock Analysis
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GREEN MTN COFFE (GMCR): Free Stock Analysis
Report
HAIN CELESTIAL (HAIN): Free Stock Analysis
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COCA COLA CO (KO): Free Stock Analysis Report
STARBUCKS CORP (SBUX): Free Stock Analysis
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