KDP Buys JDE Peet's, Coca-Cola Explores Divestment ☕️

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CPG WIRE
August 26, 2025

Welcome back to This Week in CPG, folks. Here’s what we’re covering this morning:

  • McCormick ups stake in JV 🧂

  • Hunter & Gather closes round 🥑

  • Iris Nutrition debuts 💊

  • Liquid I.V. Energy Multiplier ⚡️

  • BRĒZ launches at Wegmans 👀

KDP Buys JDE Peet’s ☕️

Despite rising prices and flagging demand for coffee, Keurig Dr Pepper is doubling down on the once-unstoppable category. Yesterday, Keurig Dr Pepper announced that it would acquire Dutch coffee giant JDE Peet’s for $18 billion.

JDE Peet’s is home to global coffee & tea brands like Peet’s,Gevalia, Douwe Egberts, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, L’OR Espresso, and many other owned and licensed brands. According to the company, JDE Peet’s sells approximately 4,400 cups of coffee or tea per second. 

The Amsterdam-based company is present in over 100 markets and currently commands the #1 or #2 position in 40 of those markets. In 2024, JDE Peet’s sales increased 7.9% to €8.8 billion, while adjusted EBITDA climbed 11.6% to over €1.5B.

JDE Peet’s boasts a stable of scaled coffee brands in its portfolio:

  • L’OR Espresso, founded in France in 1992, is the #1 retail coffee brand in France and does north of €1B in retail sales worldwide.

  • JACOBS is the #1 coffee brand in 22 global markets and brings in more than €1.7B in retail sales per year.

  • Peet’s Coffee is the fastest-growing national premium coffee brand and continues to open new stores around the world.

JDE Peet’s Brand Portfolio

The more intriguing aspect of this megamerger, however, is what happens after. Once the transaction closes, KDP plans to split into two separate companies.

One entity will house the combined KDP + JDE Peet’s global coffee business. With $16 billion in annual net sales, it will be the world’s largest pure-play coffee company.

The other will house KDP’s portfolio of beverage brands like Dr Pepper, 7UP, Ghost, Core Water, and about two dozen partner brands like Electrolit, C4 Energy, and Polar Seltzer. The unit will generate more than $11 billion in annual net sales.

The acquisition and subsequent split serves two purposes for KDP:  

  • KDP’s coffee sales have declined in each of the past two years and the coffee business has been a drag on the company’s share price. By carving out its coffee business and attaching it to JDE Peet’s, KDP gives it greater scale and a better chance to be properly valued.

  • KDP’s other beverage unit is actually growing pretty fast. The unit’s sales jumped from $8.8 billion in 2023 to $9.3 billion in 2024, yet that growth isn’t reflected in their share price thanks to the coffee business. Now that it will be a standalone business in 2026, this unit will likely be rewarded for their continued execution.

This strategy worked incredibly well for Kellogg when they separated their snack and cereal businesses in 2023 — Mars ended up buying the snack unit, Kellanova, for $35.9 billion in August of 2024 — and I imagine it will work well for KDP too.

More on the transaction here.

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • Coca-Cola is reportedly exploring a sale of UK-based coffee chain Costa Coffee. Costa Coffee is Britain’s largest coffee chain and boasts a network of more than 4,000 stores across 31 countries. Coca-Cola purchased the coffee biz in 2018 for $4.9B. A sale is expected to result in a multibillion dollar loss for Coca-Cola. Financial Times

  • McCormick (NYSE: MKC) is increasing its stake in McCormick de Mexico, its joint venture with Grupo Herdez, to 75%. McCormick is shelling out $750M to acquire the additional 25% stake in the business. McCormick de Mexico was founded in 1947 and annual net sales are now north of $800M. Food Business News

  • Premier Foods scooped up Merchant Gourmet, a UK-based producer of BFY ready-to-heat meals, for £48M. Merchant Gourmet was originally founded as a market stall in London in 1994. The company now does £28M in annual revenue and is growing at a double-digit pace. FoodBev

Fundraising

  • Hunter & Gather, a UK-based purveyor of “ancestral” supplements and food products, raised £1M in funding from existing investors and strategic angels. Founded by Amy Moring and Jeff Webster in 2017, the company’s sales exceeded £11M last year. The Grocer

How Maple Brothers Uses Consumer Data By Highlight For Market Launch Success 📈

While Maple Brothers’ line of organic breakfast and snack products have been delighting Swiss shoppers, they haven’t been available to consumers in the homeland of maple syrup–yet. 

Now, the Maple Brothers team is readying for a US market launch, but new market entry raises many questions:

🥣 Will this new set of consumers like our product's flavor?

🫎 What’s our competitive set on shelf, and how do we stand out from the crowd?

🍁 What will shoppers think of our packaging?

To refine and optimize before going to market, the Maple Brothers team used the Highlight product intelligence platform to learn what packaging concept would appeal most. 

Now Maple Brothers has the data they need to create packaging their consumers will love.

Wondering what real consumers think of your ideas? Identify winners before investing a cent in prototyping with concept testing by Highlight.

Request a demo to see how quick and easy concept testing can be.

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • AG1 launched a sleep support supplement called AGZ. The nighttime drink mix comes in three flavors — Mixed Berry, Mint Chocolate, and Chocolate — and is formulated with active ingredients like magtein, saffron, glycine, ashwaganda, and L-Theanine. Notably the product is melatonin-free. Sleep is an enormous and growing problem in the U.S. Twitter

  • Groa, a new lash and brow brand designed for Gen Alpha and Gen Z, officially launched yesterday. Groa is a sub-brand of UKLASH, the #1 lash and brow serum brand in the UK. Nima Pourian launched UKLASH in 2018. Business Wire

  • Influencer Demi Schweers launched a hormone health brand called Iris Nutrition. Schweers built a sizable social media following after posting about her infertility journey in 2022. Iris Nutrition launched with three hydrating drink mixes that also support gut and hormone health. The brand is available DTC and on Amazon. WWD

  • UK-based beauty brand Trinny London just hired Michelle Marks, a former marketing exec at Charlotte Tilbury, as the company’s next CMO. Trinny London is counting on Michelle Marks to increase brand awareness as the company prioritizes growth in the U.S. Business of Fashion

  • Bloom Nutrition just launched a creatine gummies line with one flavor: Berry Boost. Each serving contains 5g of creatine monohydrate and the new line is available exclusively on TikTok Shop. Instagram

  • Cécred, the haircare brand that Beyoncé Knowles-Carter launched early last year, released a new Protection Collection with 5 SKUs. The collection is designed to detox and nourish the scalp and hair and will be available online and exclusively at Ulta Beauty. PR Newswire

  • Burt’s Bee just launched a skincare-inspired lip treatment called Lip Milk. Each SKU retails for $9.99 and two flavors — Sweet Strawberry and Toasted Coconut — are available at launch. Instagram

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • So Liquid I.V. isn’t launching a canned beverage after all. The admittedly clever campaign was an effort to promote its new sugar-free energy drink mix line. Their powdered energy line is being positioned as an alternative to sugary energy drinks that are packed with artificial colors and unsavory ingredients like Taurine. Fast Company

  • Speaking of energy drinks…C4 Energy is going after the 5-Hour Energy monopoly with a line of 2 oz shots. A number of brands have tried and failed to disrupt 5-Hour Energy — the company reportedly commands 88% of the energy shot market — but perhaps C4 Energy has the brand equity to steal meaningful market share. Stack3d

  • Tandy, the functional candy brand founded by serial entrepreneur Eric Ryan, is launching a line of Protein NomNoms in September. Three flavors will be available: Salted Caramel Crunch, Chocolate Dipped Churro, and Peanut Buttery Peanut. The branding is great. Tandy

  • Food influencer Kevin Escalera launched a functional chocolate milk drink mix called Moo’d Up. Each serving contains 15g of protein, only 3g of sugar, and over 15 vitamins and minerals. Excited to try this. Moo’d Up

  • Strive is a new hydration soda brand from San Diego, CA. The product is formulated with a simple dose of electrolytes and sweetened with organic honey. Two flavors are available: Tropical Recharge and Peach Perfect. Strive

  • Pure Protein teamed up with Post Holdings to launch two cereal-inspired protein bars. It looks like the Fruity Pebbles & Cocoa Pebbles protein bars are available exclusively at Walmart. Food Business News

Data 🖥️

  • Graza is now the 5th largest olive oil brand in retail. Graza also leads the category in highest overall velocity too. Incredible traction in a relatively short period of time. Twitter

Distribution News 🚚