Folgers Coffee purchase gave Smucker one profitable jolt

Three straight quarters of record sales and earnings -- including profits that have more than doubled three times -- have a way of silencing your detractors.

"The proof in the pudding is what the market thinks of what you've done, and their stocks have gone up more than the markets have gone up," said Fariborz Ghadar, professor of global management, policies and planning, and founding director of the Center for Global Business Studies at Penn State University. "These guys have done better than the market -- in a very challenging environment."

Cleveland.com

Folgers Propels Smucker With Cheaper Jolt of Joe

J.M. Smucker Co.'s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled, propelled by the purchase of Folgers, an acquisition that is dovetailing with consumers' desire for a less expensive cup of joe.

Wall Street Journal

Taste-testing Starbucks instant

They tried it, so you don't have to:

Before you start accusing the iconic retailer of desperate measures, give Via a try. Here at Fortune, we have a machine that brews a fresh cup from Starbucks beans in less than a minute. We compared it to the Via and couldn’t tell which cup was the instant. Both had a rich aroma and flavor.

Fortune

Proof is in the pudding: Foodmakers cut offerings

Food companies from Sara Lee Food to H.J. Heinz are trimming their offerings to focus marketing dollars on their higher-margin, best-selling brands and retain consumers, who are trading down in the recession.

Those top brands are more likely to hold their own, and getting rid of lesser-performing brands helps companies showcase top products as retailers cut inventory. Heinz aims to remove two items for each one it introduces. Sara Lee hopes to cut its offerings 8 percent this fiscal year.

The Mercury News

Starbucks Poised to Launch 'Soluble' Coffee

Horror of horrors. An instant coffee from Starbucks? Either they have a serious technological advance on their hands or an equity-diluting idea. Time will tell ...

Starbucks will begin testing the soluble coffee -- a term that conjures up images of instant brands such as Folgers, Sanka and Brim -- by selling it in Starbucks cafes as early as next month. It's unclear as yet whether the company will also extend the product to supermarkets, where it already has a presence with ground Starbucks-branded coffee.

AdAge

Dunkin' Takes Battle Against Starbucks to Grocery Stores

Dunkin' has been running a marketing campaign that goes after Starbucks stores on taste, boasting that it beat the java giant in an "independent taste test." Now, J.M. Smucker Co., which owns Dunkin's supermarket-distributed coffee brand, is mounting an online sampling program for the brew-at-home version, DunkinAtHome.com. The site offers samples of Dunkin's original blend, as well as Dunkin' Dark.

AdAge

Smucker Cuts Folgers, Dunkin' Coffee Prices

Smucker is cutting Folgers Ground prices by 3.5% (10 cents per 10.3-11.5 ounce can); Folgers Gourmet varieties by 7.8% (10 cents per 10 to 12 ounces); and Folgers instant by 4.4%.

MediaPost

Kraft, Folgers, Olay Top Baby Boomer Gals' WOM

Baby boomer women talk about Kraft more than any other packaged goods food brand, according to results of word-of-mouth research released Tuesday by Rodale's Prevention magazine, in partnership with Keller Fay Group's ongoing TalkTrack study.

JM Smuckers' recently acquired Folgers, meanwhile, is the brand boomers are more likely to talk about in comparison with younger women.

Media Post

Smucker closes deal for Folgers

Orrville-based Smucker on Thursday said it closed its $3 billion acquisition of Folgers, adding the business – the leading packaged coffee brand in the nation – to other former P&G brands the company owns, such as Jif peanut butter and Crisco.

Business Journal

Jelly Time!

Another suit filed against Kraft in coffee container war

Procter & Gamble claims that a new four-pound plastic container for Maxwell House violates patents on Folgers' containers. Procter & Gamble filed a similar suit in federal court in August 2007 when Maxwell House was introduced in a 39-ounce plastic container.

Chicago Tribune

Folgers Markets a New Coffee to Cost-Cutting Home Brewers

Now Folgers, which is still the top-selling packaged coffee in the United States, is trying to lure customers with an approach to roasting that it calls “the biggest innovation since the launch of decaf.”

New York Times

With A Plan Like Smucker's, Sales Have To Be Good

As for marketing once Folgers is in the fold, co-CEO Tim Smucker confirmed the company's intention to "continue to be the No. 1 spender" in its categories. He noted that existing brands are already being "marketed much closer together," and stressed the greatly expanded cross-marketing opportunities represented by Folgers.

Smucker intends to stick long-term with a core message that he summed up as: "The best way of starting your day is Folgers in your cup and Smucker's on your toast, and the best way of ending your day is Folgers in your cup and some Pillsbury."

Marketing Daily