To expand Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, founder Bob Stiller began selling through several channels: in retail stores, in wholesale outlets, through direct-mail catalogs, and on the Web at www.GreenMountainCoffee.com. He also expanded its product line to include more than 100 gourmet coffee varieties under the Green Mountain name. In addition, the more the company learned about the growers who supplied its coffee beans, the more interested it became in the notion of fair trade—ensuring that farmers receive a fair price for their crops. GMCR is now one of the world’s leading sellers of fair trade coffee. Recognizing consumers’ growing interest in organic foods, GMCR added the Fair Trade Certified organic brand and Newman’s Own Organics brand to GMCR’s offerings. During the mid-1990s, managers at Green Mountain discovered Keurig, a manufacturer of a single serve coffee system. Using the Keurig machine, coffee drinkers could brew a single cup of their favorite blend. The system uses coffee packaged in tiny single serve “K-cups.” GMCR leadership saw great potential in Keurig. They knew consumers were looking for easy ways to brew a perfect cup of coffee. Only a few competitors operated in the single-cup market. The single-cup brew has the advantage of a premium cup of coffee at a fraction of the price. Once Green Mountain became a Keurig investor, it began working with the company to fine-tune processes and to package and distribute K-cups.

• How did GMCR’s awareness of changing consumer preferences help shape the company’s business plan?

• GMCR pioneered the concept of fair trade coffee. How did its interest in its suppliers change the face of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters?