Amid slowing sales of their core offerings, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA and Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. are looking to tap new areas for growth through a K-Cup machine for cocktails. The Drinkworks drinkmaker machine is coming to Florida, Missouri and California following a test in St. Louis, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The machine, which utilizes pods filled with liquid, makes drinks such as an Old Fashioned or a Moscow Mule by adding carbonation and water. While the machine doesn’t add ice to the drinks, it does chill the beverages. The pods sell for $15.99 for most cocktails (in a pack of four) and are tantamount to a shot of alcohol along with flavorings.
The move comes as AB InBev is seeking growth beyond beer amid falling sales of Bud Light and Budweiser. At the same time, Keurig is seeking to repeat the success of its eponymous coffee machine. While it was reported the devices are utilized regularly in 22 percent of U.S. homes, sales were said to have decreased in Q4.
In 2015, it was reported that Keurig’s first and long-awaited cold beverage model, the Keurig Kold, was launching with flavors that include Coke, Canada Dry and Dr. Pepper, at a price of $369. The K-Cup required to make an eight-ounce glass of Coke was said to cost $1, which also poses an obstacle: A two-liter of Coke consistently sells for somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 at most retail stores.
Initially intended for the office, the company’s hot beverage machines were reportedly in almost one out of three American households at the time. The single-serving hot beverage market didn’t even exist when Keurig’s inventor John Sylvan quit his day job to perfect his invention in 1992. Sylvan had sold his share of the company for $50,000 by 1997, however, as Keurig was gaining traction.
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