On February 17,2011,Starbucks signaled plans for further expansion in the single - serve coffee market by signing a deal with Courtesy Products a provider of in - room coffee service to hotels. Starbucks had already made a foray into single - serve coffee in 2009 with the development of its VIA instant coffee. Because of the alliance with Courtesy Products Starbucks coffee will now be available in as many as 500,000 luxury hotel rooms nationwide. Single - serve coffee is seen as attractive because it is still a relatively new market with big growth potential. Single - serve coffee pods rang up $180 million in sales at supermarkets drug stores and mass merchandisers excluding Wal - Mart Inc,. in the 52 weeks ending October 3,2010. Analyst Mitchell Pinheiro in commenting on Starbucks Chances of competing with Green Mountain's division which produces home - brewing machines suggested.
While Starbucks could decide to launch its own brewer or partner with someone other than Keuring the quickest and most effective way for Starbucks to gain traction in the single - cup coffee segment is through Keurig