Chameleon Cold-Brew

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Chameleon Cold-Brew
Company type
CEO
) Steve Williams (co-founder)
Parent
Nestlé
Websitewww.chameleoncoldbrew.com
Old logo

Chameleon Cold-Brew is an American coffee company based in

BevNET
.

History

Chameleon Cold-Brew was founded in 2010 by Steve Williams and Chris Campbell.[2] Williams, a longtime coffee industry professional and coffee shop owner, created a unique blend of cold brew coffee to sell exclusively at his east Austin coffeehouse, Bennu Coffee. Campbell, who holds an MBA from Rice University, was working as a business consultant when he and Williams met at a neighborhood barbecue. The pair decided to join forces, utilizing Campbell's entrepreneurial ambitions and Williams’ coffee expertise, to bottle and sell a cold brew brand based on the original recipe served at Bennu Coffee.[3] The pair teamed with Austin coffee icon and master roaster, R.C. Beall, to perfect the cold brew blend using beans from Beall's coffee sourcing company, Texas Coffee Traders.[4] After months of experimenting with various brewing methods, beans and water sources, the recipe was finalized and Chameleon Cold-Brew debuted its first products in the Austin market in 2011 at a south Austin convenient store, The Whip In.[5] The original cold brew recipe is still freshly brewed and served at Bennu Coffee's two Austin locations.

Chameleon Cold-Brew was able to gain traction in the marketplace by cutting deals with local vendors such as Texafrance who bottled the product for the company.[6] By 2012, the company had its products in 225 stores in 18 states.[6] The company received outside funding in 2013 by selling a minority stake in the company to Fortitude Capital LLC.[7] Funding was used for product distribution, marketing, and infrastructure.[7]

It expanded to selling its products to natural and specialty retailers, including

BevNET.[10]

In 2015, Chameleon Cold-Brew expanded its distribution with Target to 520-plus stores throughout the United States.[11] That same year, it raised $4 million of a $4.5 million funding round.[12] Funding was reported to be used to expand distribution and research and development.[13]

In November 2017, Nestle S.A., the world's largest food and drinks company, acquired a majority stake of Chameleon Cold Brew[14] for an undisclosed sum, roping the Austin, Texas-based brand into its widening coffee portfolio and further positioning the food and beverage conglomerate to challenge and disrupt the U.S. ready-to-drink (RTD) market.

Products

Bottles of Chameleon Cold-Brew.

Chameleon Cold-Brew offers ready to drink cold brew coffee. Its cold-brew coffee also comes in concentrate that can be made into cold brew coffee by adding water, milk or other liquids.

carbon offset program through Green Mountain Energy.[20]

References

  1. ^ Kaplan, Jennifer (23 May 2016). "Cold Coffee is Booming in the U.S." Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  2. ^ "www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/abje_news/2012/10/cold-brew-coffee-co-overcomes.html". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  3. ^ "Chameleon Cold Brew Co-Founder Opens Second Bennu Coffee Shop in Austin". Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. 2017-05-26. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  4. ^ jenna. "Texas Coffee Traders". Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  5. ^ "New Money: These Austin Tech and Startup Companies Raised Major Cash in August". Austin Inno. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  6. ^ a b Buchholz, Jan (1 October 2012). "Cold-brew coffee co. overcomes obstacles to gain traction". Austin Business Journal. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  7. ^ a b Quesada, Anthony (8 February 2013). "Chameleon Cold-Brew lands capital from Houston investment firm". Austin Business Journal. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Latif, Ray (29 April 2014). "Mass Appeal: Chameleon Cold Brew Hits SuperTarget". BevNET. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  9. ^ a b "Chameleon Cold-Brew Launches Three New Flavors of RTD Coffee". BevNET. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  10. ^ "Chameleon RTD - Best Coffee or Coffee-Based". BevNET. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  11. ^ Wistrom, Brent (25 August 2015). "6 Austin Food & Drink Startups We're Keeping an Eye On". Streetwise. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  12. ^ Calnan, Christopher (10 August 2015). "In the money August 10: These 3 startups just raised $21M". Austin Business Journal. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  13. ^ Wood, Virginia B. (28 August 2015). "Food-o-File". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  14. ^ "Nestlé Expands Portfolio with Acquisition of Chameleon Cold Brew". Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. 2017-11-03. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  15. ^ "Stuff we like". Pittsburgh City Paper. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  16. ^ Kravitz, Melissa (13 August 2015). "Curb your Starbucks addiction with these at-home cold brew options". AM New York. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  17. ^ a b Berry, Donna (10 December 2014). "The evolution of beverage concentrates". Food Business News. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  18. ^ "10 (non-Pokémon) ways to make summer more fun". Star-Telegram. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  19. ^ Lingle, Rick (16 August 2016). "Chameleon Cold-Brew coffee packaging transforms its look". Packaging Digest. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  20. ^ Platis, Rachel (10 April 2015). "Sustainability Stories: Chameleon Cold-Brew". Green Mountain Energy. Retrieved 7 October 2016.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chameleon_Cold-Brew&oldid=1122480814"