Procter & Gamble Co has launched a new coffee that promises to be easy on the tummy for the millions of Americans who suffer stomach irritation after drinking brew, a company vice president said.
"As many of 38 million consumers in the US have either reduced or eliminated coffee because of stomach irritation," Doug McGraw, vice president of Global Coffee for P&G, told Reuters.
"If half of those 38 million consumers drink just one more cup of coffee per week, that would create a market about half the size of decaf," he said.
The new line of coffee, called Simply Smooth, is part of P&G's flagship coffee brand Folgers. It will be available in medium-roast regular and decaffeinated varieties this month at mass merchandisers, grocery and drug stores nation-wide. The company expects sales from Folgers Simply Smooth to reach between $50 million-$100 million over the next few years.
The new product uses a special blend of coffee beans, which are carefully roasted to limit the level of phenols, an organic compound believed to be associated with stomach discomfort when consumed at certain levels.
"At a certain level phenols cause stomach irritation. So the roasting 'sweet spot' is designed to create fewer of these phenols and therefore result in less irritation of the stomach," said McGraw.
"We certainly hope and expect this to build our business, so in the end we will be buying more coffee," he said.
P&G's coffee brands, such as Folgers and Millstone, make up about 40 percent of the US coffee market.
Folgers' market share was affected by disruptions last year at its main plant in New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. The company recently reported its coffee market share is back to pre-hurricane levels.
Still, varying increased operational costs associated with the New Orleans cleanup could remain a business challenge for P&G's coffee segment beyond the fiscal year ending in June 2006, a company spokesman said.