Corporate Essentials Ends Nearly 20-Year Relationship With Keurig Green Mountain, Inc.

PARSIPPANY, NJ, Jan. 5, 2015 /CNW/ - New Jersey-based office refreshment provider, Corporate Essentials (drinkcoffee.com) has announced that it has decided to end its nearly 20-year distribution agreement with Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. (KGM). Instead, the Company will offer Keurig^® K-Cup® compatible products, including Mother Parkers' RealCup™ brand single serve capsules.

"It was a decision that we felt was the right one for our clients," said Judson Kleinman, President/CEO and Founder of Corporate Essentials. "We truly feel that innovative products like the RealCup™ brand of capsules are great single serve solutions and having an agreement in place that prevented us from offering them to our clients was not in anyone's best interest."

Office Coffee Service (OCS) providers like Corporate Essentials, who are authorized to sell the Keurig^® brand, are required to only provide customers Keurig^® K-Cup® KGM -licensed products due to the terms of their Keurig^® Authorized Distributor (KAD) agreement.

"When the first Keurig^® K-Cup® patents expired in 2012 and rogue "K-Cups" flooded the market, our clients inquired about them," said Kleinman. "And even though our clients regularly requested these products for their homes and offices, we respected and honored the terms of our agreement, only offering Keurig^®K-Cup® licensed products. But with new innovation and higher-quality products in the single-cup market, we decided it was time to make a change in order to provide the best options for our clients."

Corporate Essentials' first post-Keurig partnership is with Canadian-based Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee Inc., which developed and manufactures the Keurig^® K-Cup® compatible RealCup™ brand solution for coffee and tea brands including Tim Hortons® Coffee, Marley Coffee®, Brown Gold® coffees, Higgins & Burke™, Numi® and China Mist® teas.

"When you look at Mother Parkers' brand and lineup, it's pretty impressive," said Kleinman. "We are now able to offer our clients something we couldn't before – choice."

Without restrictions on the types of products that can be offered to clients, Corporate Essentials will also be able to reach beyond the relationship with Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee to offer a wide variety of single serve capsule products.

"I have to be honest, when one of our clients asks for a new coffee with the name of a TV chef or other coffee celebrity, it will feel good to say: 'sure we can get that for you!'" added Kleinman.

In addition to offering RealCup™ brand products and other non-licensed single serve capsules to more than 1,500 corporate clients in New York City and New Jersey, the products will be made available through Corporate Essentials' website www.shoffee.com, which currently serves more than 50,000 homes.

About Corporate Essentials:
Founded as an office coffee service in 1996, Corporate Essentials has long been considered New York City and New Jersey's premier office refreshment service, fueling the culture of more than 1,500 NYC and NJ-based companies with healthy snacks, cold beverages, high-quality coffee and more on a daily basis. In three of the past seven years, they were named to Inc Magazine's Inc 5,000 list of the fastest-growing, privately held companies in the United States. As a major part of their office refreshment solution, Corporate Essentials provides premium coffee brewing equipment from RealCup/Grindmaster, Cafection, Starbucks, Mars Drinks, Bunn, Fetco, Wilbur-Curtis and more. Corporate Essentials services customers throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and New Jersey. Its headquarters and warehouse is located in Parsippany, New Jersey. For more information, visit drinkcoffee.com.

About Shoffee.com:
Started in late 2007, Shoffee.com was one of the internet's original websites offering single-cup coffee and tea. With more than 50,000 active customers, Shoffee.com prides itself on offering both selection and value to users worldwide. For more information visit Shoffee.com.

About Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee and RealCup™ Brand Single Serve Capsules: 
RealCup™ capsules are designed for use with Keurig ® K-Cup® compatible single-serve brewers. RealCup™ single-serve capsules were developed by Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee, one of the largest coffee and tea manufacturers in North America. The company combines state-of-the-art technology and new product innovation with more than 102 years of quality and service excellence to deliver an exceptional beverage experience in mainstream and specialty coffee, tea, and complementary beverages. A leader in the single-serve beverage industry, the RealCup™ brand strives to bring sustainability, choice, value and quality to the consumer, both through partner brands and through flexible licensing agreements. For more information, visit realcup.com.