Trevor Smith
Product Manager, Founder
Secret Squirrel
Being an original player in this new cold brew category we’ve had plenty of time to think about and wonder where the category is headed; wondering will cold brew carve out a new space in RTD coffee, will it be snuffed out by iced coffee, is it a bonafide category or a short lived trend? Always looking for for signs of validation via product awareness, revenue, growth.
Then over the past year we’ve seen signs of validation. 40+ new brands started up in the past year, Starbucks starts serving on [the] East Coast, then West Coast, Peet’s starts serving cold brew, then Blue Bottle gets more funding, Califia gets big money, Chameleon get more funding, Chobani buys La Colombe, the Mintel report, and the fact that grocery stores are allocating more space for cold brew. Then in the biggest validating sign yet and cherry on top – Peet’s acquires Stumptown in large part for their cold brew expertise.
I think it means more large companies will get into the category. I think all of us smaller players will need to tighten up our cash flow and scalability games to survive more competition, more innovation, and lower prices.