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Author Topic: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig  (Read 4816 times)

Offline Wilbur

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Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« on: September 21, 2017, 01:56:03 pm »
I stumbled across this article, looking at Keurig's business model.

https://blog.bolt.io/keurig-accidentally-created-the-perfect-business-model-for-hardware-startups-18e9c3b4e796

It's an interesting look at pricing strategies and how Keurig suceeded. Kind of fits in perfectly with the Pico brew Pro/C and the Genesis fermenter. I thought the point about pricing the consumable correctly is key, as well as making the the consumable something you actually WANT. A little weird that some of the things are called the "Keurig of ____" when they came out first. Also a little bit of sales pitch for their own product, but an interesting read nevertheless.

Offline Stevie

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2017, 03:09:22 pm »
I don't think the Pico quite fits the model. K-cups are quick, idiot proof and have a low per unit price. Pico-paks are priced a bit over what I consider fair, have room for error, and take at least a week for the payout.

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2017, 09:09:55 am »
If you were to look at the profit margin on a K-cup against the other products they compare it to I bet the K-cup is similar if not greater. It's a small amount of low quality coffee run through a mill and packaged in dirt cheap packaging. Commercial grade coffee sells for around $1-1.50/lb. wholesale and roasting coffee is a relatively cheap process compared to mass manufacturing on some of the other products discussed. It's a very easy product to sell cheaply but still see great returns.
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Offline Wilbur

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2017, 12:37:34 pm »
I don't think the Pico quite fits the model. K-cups are quick, idiot proof and have a low per unit price. Pico-paks are priced a bit over what I consider fair, have room for error, and take at least a week for the payout.
Yeah, that's one thing that keeps popping up in the reviews I've read. Beer isn't the end product of the Pico, wort is and people seem generally unsatisfied with that. The cost comparison between that and craft beer is too close as well.

Offline Stevie

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2017, 02:36:07 pm »
Picobrew pushes the “beer you can’t get can be made at home” narrative. Personally I think that is a bit stretch.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2017, 04:06:18 pm »
Picobrew pushes the “beer you can’t get can be made at home” narrative. Personally I think that is a bit stretch.


I agree. People should buy whatever the heck they want though.
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Offline Stevie

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2017, 05:09:14 pm »
Picobrew pushes the “beer you can’t get can be made at home” narrative. Personally I think that is a bit stretch.


I agree. People should buy whatever the heck they want though.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t buy it if they want. I’m saying that “selling point” is dumb.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2017, 05:31:15 pm »
Picobrew pushes the “beer you can’t get can be made at home” narrative. Personally I think that is a bit stretch.


I agree. People should buy whatever the heck they want though.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t buy it if they want. I’m saying that “selling point” is dumb.


I'm not disagreeing, Steve. People are making beer in so many ways now (not a bad thing), that it comes as more a reflex to say that people should brew how they want. Should be a given, right? Just don't want to ignite an unintended fire.
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Offline Ellismr

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2017, 08:04:20 pm »
I think the Pico is a good fit for Brewers limited on space.  I think the Pico-C is a ripoff.  Their pods are $20-$30 ea and it makes a gallon.  You could do small batch BIAB on your  stove for a fraction of the cost


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Offline majorvices

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2017, 07:38:16 am »
I have a Zymatic and it is a lot of fun but, after dozens of batches I can attest I really feel I make better beer on my old 12 gallon homebrew system. I can't understand the sense in "pico paks" unless you are just very rich and don't know what to do with your money.

Keurig is just pure idiocy IMO. My mom bought me one years ago and after I used the initial pods I strictly used it for hot water until it died. OTOH I actually like to drink GOOD coffee so there's that.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2017, 07:55:05 am »
Keurig is just pure idiocy IMO. My mom bought me one years ago and after I used the initial pods I strictly used it for hot water until it died. OTOH I actually like to drink GOOD coffee so there's that.



Couldn't agree more, Keith. The Keurig trades ease of use (I guess) for subpar s**t coffee IMO. We have one at work and every single pod has that bitter instant coffee bite, even with creamer. Once you get used to really good coffee, that crap's unacceptable. And the pods are overly expensive to boot. Each his own.
Jon H.

Offline denny

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2017, 09:50:10 am »
Picobrew pushes the “beer you can’t get can be made at home” narrative. Personally I think that is a bit stretch.


I agree. People should buy whatever the heck they want though.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t buy it if they want. I’m saying that “selling point” is dumb.

Not if you live in say Indonesia.
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Offline denny

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2017, 09:50:55 am »
I have a Zymatic and it is a lot of fun but, after dozens of batches I can attest I really feel I make better beer on my old 12 gallon homebrew system. I can't understand the sense in "pico paks" unless you are just very rich and don't know what to do with your money.

Keurig is just pure idiocy IMO. My mom bought me one years ago and after I used the initial pods I strictly used it for hot water until it died. OTOH I actually like to drink GOOD coffee so there's that.

The international market understands the value of Pico Paks.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline Stevie

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2017, 10:31:37 am »
Picobrew pushes the “beer you can’t get can be made at home” narrative. Personally I think that is a bit stretch.


I agree. People should buy whatever the heck they want though.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t buy it if they want. I’m saying that “selling point” is dumb.

Not if you live in say Indonesia.
From the guy that argues beers cannot be cloned.

Offline denny

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Re: Product Development, Homebrewing, and Keurig
« Reply #14 on: September 23, 2017, 01:00:32 pm »
Picobrew pushes the “beer you can’t get can be made at home” narrative. Personally I think that is a bit stretch.


I agree. People should buy whatever the heck they want though.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t buy it if they want. I’m saying that “selling point” is dumb.

Not if you live in say Indonesia.
From the guy that argues beers cannot be cloned.

Oh, I still believe that.  But the Paks are pretty darn close.  Especially if you can't get the real thing.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell