Dive Brief:
- General Mills is selling single-serving cups of oatmeal that can be made with Keurig machines.
- Nature Valley Bistro Cups Oatmeal are available through Amazon and at Sam's Clubs.
- Keurig was not involved in the deal. Patents on the K-Cup technology expired in 2012, resulting in a slew of unlicensed products for use with the brewers.
Dive Insight:
Apparently someone at General Mills has been surfing the Internet, because the Web is full of videos of folks explaining how to make instant oatmeal with a Keurig brewer.
General Mills appears to recognize that the product will have a very short "shelf life," as there are currently no plans to put the Bistro Cups into wide distribution. Don't expect to see these things at the local Kroger or Safeway anytime soon.
Such a sell-it-fast-while-you-can strategy makes sense given that Keurig has made it clear it intends to fight back against unlicensed K-Cup makers by developing a new generation of brewers protected by new patents.