Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
Running Head: FUTURE OF GREEN MOUNTAIN COFFEE
Future of Green Mountain Coffee
Aaron Copeland, Richard Thompson, Katie Ensign, Sara Bullock
Central Washington University
Future of Brewing When a small sign was hung on a little cafe in Waitsfield, Vermont in 1981, nobody would have imagined that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters [GMCR] would become one of the world's leading specialty coffee makers. Through hard work, "Demand quickly grew beyond the walls of the café," and many other local companies requested GMCR coffee to offer their customers (GMCR, Company Overview, 2009, p. 1). Today, GMCR "is recognized as a leader in the specialty coffee industry for its award-winning coffees, innovative brewing technology and socially responsible business practices" (GMCR, The Story of Green Mountain, 2009, p. 1). Reaching this point, however, was not easy and forced GMCR to master their marketing strategies in order to survive the competition. GMCR is doing business in the highly competitive specialty coffee industry where it faces major seller competition, "including Dunkin' Donuts, Peet's and Starbucks" (Datamonitor, 2009, p.36). In addition to this formidable competition, GMCR also has to compete with specialty coffee makers such as Nestle and Gevalia (Datamonitor, 2009). Amidst these competitors, GMCR has still managed to grow successfully over the past few years and has enticed many smaller companies to the specialty coffee industry. These small companies, although negligible alone, could "have an adverse effect on profitability as a result of lower sales" (p.36). All of this competition has created many challenges for GMCR. One of the largest challenges that GMCR is facing today is its "Dependence on a single supplier" located in China (Datamonitor, 2009, p.35). This creates a problem since the company's supply is "substantially vulnerable to the market condition of the Chinese economy which could result in product supply disruption and cost increment"
Future of Green Mountain Coffee
Aaron Copeland, Richard Thompson, Katie Ensign, Sara Bullock
Central Washington University
Future of Brewing When a small sign was hung on a little cafe in Waitsfield, Vermont in 1981, nobody would have imagined that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters [GMCR] would become one of the world's leading specialty coffee makers. Through hard work, "Demand quickly grew beyond the walls of the café," and many other local companies requested GMCR coffee to offer their customers (GMCR, Company Overview, 2009, p. 1). Today, GMCR "is recognized as a leader in the specialty coffee industry for its award-winning coffees, innovative brewing technology and socially responsible business practices" (GMCR, The Story of Green Mountain, 2009, p. 1). Reaching this point, however, was not easy and forced GMCR to master their marketing strategies in order to survive the competition. GMCR is doing business in the highly competitive specialty coffee industry where it faces major seller competition, "including Dunkin' Donuts, Peet's and Starbucks" (Datamonitor, 2009, p.36). In addition to this formidable competition, GMCR also has to compete with specialty coffee makers such as Nestle and Gevalia (Datamonitor, 2009). Amidst these competitors, GMCR has still managed to grow successfully over the past few years and has enticed many smaller companies to the specialty coffee industry. These small companies, although negligible alone, could "have an adverse effect on profitability as a result of lower sales" (p.36). All of this competition has created many challenges for GMCR. One of the largest challenges that GMCR is facing today is its "Dependence on a single supplier" located in China (Datamonitor, 2009, p.35). This creates a problem since the company's supply is "substantially vulnerable to the market condition of the Chinese economy which could result in product supply disruption and cost increment"
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