Dive Brief:
- Kraft Heinz’s Maxwell House brand is introducing its first innovation in nearly a decade with Iced Latte with Foam. The company said it is the first-ever foaming agent brought to grocery shelves. The last major innovation for Maxwell House was Iced Coffee Concentrates in 2015.
- The new offering is available in three flavors: Vanilla, Hazelnut and Caramel. Each of the six individual sachets, which are sold in the instant section of the coffee aisle for $6.99, are combined with iced water.
- The launch of the Iced Latte with Foam marks the latest effort by a large CPG company to bring convenience and premium experiences directly to consumers.
Dive Insight:
Kraft Heinz, citing data from NPD Group, noted that while 31% of coffee shop beverages are served cold, only 7% of the beverage consumed at home is iced due to difficulty in recreating a cafe-style iced latte. The spread between the two figures could mean a big opportunity for a brand founded more than a century ago.
Kraft Heinz said the Iced Latte with Foam allows its Maxwell House brand to enter an untapped opportunity in the coffee category with a product that makes it easier to create a cafe-style iced latte at home or on the go.
“As iced beverages continue to rise in coffee shops, this opens a huge opportunity to continue the growth of cold in the coffee aisle at grocery stores,” Sweta Kannan, Kraft Heinz’s director of marketing and coffee innovation, said in a statement. “Our never-before-seen cold-stirred foam technology will allow coffee lovers to save the time and money of going to a coffee shop.”
The product launch comes as inflation forces consumers to pay higher prices for nearly everything, leaving them with less cash to spend on certain indulgences. Brands that bring a premium experience home to shoppers for a fraction of the cost could be poised to benefit in this environment.
A consumer might be more willing to open one of the Maxwell House Iced Latte with Foam packets at $1.17 a pop rather than venture out to their local coffee shop where they would spend several times that for a single drink.
Next year, Maxwell House, which was introduced in 1892, will be rolling out its first rebrand in nearly 10 years as it looks to reach a younger category of coffee drinkers. The coffee, known for its slogan, “Good to the last drop,” will tweak the tagline to “Live Life to the Last Drop” and update the packaging.
Kraft Heinz is the latest company to introduce a premium offering in coffee as businesses look to attract younger consumers and keep them devoted to their products in an ultra-competitive category.
J.M. Smucker is rolling out liquid coffee concentrate under the Dunkin’ brand in an effort to win over Gen Z consumers. The product, sold in 31-ounce shelf-stable bottles, will be on shelves next to coffee beans, grounds, K-Cups and mixes. Consumers will purchase it and dilute it with whatever they want — hot or cold water, dairy products or ice.
Blue Bottle Coffee, which is majority owned by Nestlé, last year debuted an instant espresso that allows consumers to make premium drinks at home without the need for pricey machines or brewing expertise. The beverage, which took three years to create, is made by adding pre-ground espresso beans to milk.
A Smucker executive recently told Food Dive that the impetus for its liquid coffee came from a lack of patience by younger consumers to wait for a cup of coffee on a home brewer, feeling intimidated by making their own coffee or an unwillingness to invest in the equipment.
