At 131 years old, Maxwell House is no spring chicken, and most of its loyal drinkers aren't either.
But Kraft Heinz is looking to revive the coffee brand by appealing to younger consumers with its new iced latte with foam, its first product launch in nearly a decade.
Once the country's top coffee brand, Maxwell House has fallen out of favor with consumers who have grown more sophisticated in their coffee habits and adopted espresso machines, French presses and cold brew makers at home.
Even within the instant coffee segment, Maxwell House ranks third, trailing Nestle's Nescafe and JM Smuckers' Folgers in U.S. market share, according to Euromonitor International data.
Maxwell House also faces competition from the likes of Starbucks and Dunkin', both of which offer more convenience and variety at a higher price tag than home-brewed coffee.
But with its new Iced Latte with Foam, Maxwell House hopes to bridge that gap and win over new customers. Kraft Heinz touts the instant drink as the first of its kind, requiring just one packet, a cup of cold water and a spoon.
The iced latte with foam is available nationwide at major retailers and on Amazon and comes in three flavors: vanilla, hazelnut and caramel. Each $6.99 package contains six packets, giving each individual iced latte a price of just $1.17.
Energizing sales
Parent company Kraft Heinz mulled selling its coffee unit back in 2019, when the food giant was looking to overhaul its ailing business. Instead, it held on to the coffee brands, but they weren't a focal point of its turnaround strategy, which centered on other iconic brands like Oscar Mayer.
However, Kraft Heinz now seems to have a revived interest in coffee sales.
"When I came on about a year and a half ago, there was a kind of turning point in interest in rejuvenating the Kraft Heinz coffee business," said Tiffin Groff, head of Kraft Heinz's North American coffee business.
Last year marked the first that Maxwell House gained market share since 2016, Groff said. She joined Kraft Heinz from Peet's Coffee, where she spent 12 years growing its packaged-coffee business.
Under Groff's leadership, Kraft Heinz launched IHOP-branded coffee in retailers in April. That new line is already attracting younger consumers than the loyal Maxwell House drinker, she said.
Next year, Kraft Heinz will launch iced lattes with foam under the IHOP name.
The new product line follows the consumer trend of drinking more cold coffee beverages. For example, Starbucks says more than half of its total U.S. drink sales are cold beverages. Millennials and Gen Z are the biggest consumers of cold coffee drinks.
And while the idea of an iced latte with foam is nothing new, making cold coffee drinks at home has always been a challenge. Only 7% of coffee consumed at home is cold, according to NPD Group data cited by Kraft Heinz.
For Maxwell House, the hope is that the new product line will drive more growth for the mature brand.
Next year, the brand will get a facelift, with updated packaging and a new tagline: "Live Life to the Last Drop."