Anheuser Busch InBev : It Made Headlines in 120 Countries. What’s the Story Behind Our Drinkworks Home Bar?

The Drinkworks Home Bar by Keurig®: a first-of-its-kind Drinkmaker designed to use Drinkworks® proprietary pods to prepare premium cocktails, ciders, brews and more at the touch of a button.

We heard you tried some unusual marketing research.

We used the Lean Start-Up method of 'validated learning'. So, rather than asking people in a survey if they would buy the Home Bar, we built prototypes and hosted parties in their homes, where they could order a unit on the spot. We also held a mock online auction to gauge how the Home Bar would sell at different price points.

Your launch got a lot of media attention. Were you surprised?

With Anheuser-Busch and Keurig behind us, we knew the world be watching. Even though our initial announcement earned 500 million impressions worldwide, we still maintained the mindset of a start-up, with limited releases of our small inventory over five months.

What an incredible start. What's next?

We're focused on the U.S., building our marketing and sales teams, and expanding into Missouri, Florida, California and now New York. However, even as we expand, our main focus will continue to be listening to our consumers in order to learn, react and make our users' experience with our system even more remarkable!

When can we expect a beer pod?

We have Stella Artois Cidre available now, and we're testing variants from some of our US craft brands, as well as Beck's and Bass. However, we're still perfecting the experience to make it more user-friendly.

Before we go, any advice on making big dreams come true?

Doors close the bigger your venture gets. Learn while you're small so the cost to change is minimal. That way you can keep learning, trying new things and moving fast.