Keurig Green Mountain’s big hopes for an at-home soda machine to rival SodaStream have gone flat: the company says it’s dropping the KOLD machine after less than a year on the market, and will offer customers a full refund for the countertop appliances.
Keurig said on Tuesday that it’s discontinuing the first generation of KOLD, which sold for a suggested retail price of $369.99. Each soda pod cost more than a dollar, making the KOLD machine a lot more expensive than just buying and storing your own soda in the fridge. That also frees up a lot of counter room.
The end of the KOLD machine will come with bad news for 130 employees who will be laid off as a result, most of them in Vermont, The Associated Press reports.
Keurig didn’t explain why it was pulling the plug on KOLD but did acknowledge to the AP that it learned from the experience and would incorporate that knowledge into future beverage endeavors.
We’ve reached out to Keurig for specifics on how customers should expect the refund process to work, and where they can contact the company with any questions, and will update this post when we hear back.
In the meantime, it appears the company has already yanked the KOLD from its site, as the product page has a note that it is “no longer available” and “out of stock.”
The news may be a shock to the company’s blogging team, however, which just posted a recipe for a KOLD strawberry shortcake cocktail on May 20.
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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