Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR)

Decreased availability of high-quality Arabica coffee beans could jeopardize our Company’s ability to maintain or expand our business.

We roast over 40 different types of green coffee beans to produce more than 100 coffee selections. If one type of green coffee bean were to become unavailable or prohibitively expensive, we believe we could substitute another type of coffee of equal or better quality meeting a similar taste profile. However, a worldwide supply shortage of the high-quality Arabica coffees we purchase could have an adverse impact on our Company.

The political situation in many of the Arabica coffee growing regions, including Africa, Indonesia, and Central and South America, can be unstable, and such instability could affect our ability to purchase coffee from those regions. If Arabica coffee beans from a region become unavailable or prohibitively expensive, we could be forced to discontinue particular coffee types and blends or substitute coffee beans from other regions in our blends. Frequent substitutions and changes in our coffee product lines could lead to cost increases, customer alienation and fluctuations in our gross margins.

While production of commercial grade coffee is generally on the rise, many industry experts are concerned about the ability of specialty coffee production to keep pace with demand. Arabica coffee beans of the quality we purchase are not readily available on the commodity markets. We depend on our relationships with coffee brokers, exporters and growers for the supply of our primary raw material, high-quality Arabica coffee beans. In particular, the supply of Fair Trade Certified coffees is limited. We may not be able to purchase enough Fair Trade Certified coffees to satisfy the rapidly increasing demand for such coffees, which could impact our revenue growth.

Decreased availability of
high-quality Arabica coffee beans could jeopardize our Company’s ability to maintain or expand our business.

We roast over 40 different types of
green coffee beans to produce more than 100 coffee selections. If one type of green coffee bean were to become unavailable or prohibitively expensive, we believe we could substitute another type of coffee of equal or better quality meeting a similar
taste profile. However, a worldwide supply shortage of the high-quality Arabica coffees we purchase could have an adverse impact on our Company.

The
political situation in many of the Arabica coffee growing regions, including Africa, Indonesia, and Central and South America, can be unstable, and such instability could affect our ability to purchase coffee from those regions. If Arabica coffee
beans from a region become unavailable or prohibitively expensive, we could be forced to discontinue particular coffee types and blends or substitute coffee beans from other regions in our blends. Frequent substitutions and changes in our coffee
product lines could lead to cost increases, customer alienation and fluctuations in our gross margins.

While production of commercial grade coffee is
generally on the rise, many industry experts are concerned about the ability of specialty coffee production to keep pace with demand. Arabica coffee beans of the quality we purchase are not readily available on the commodity markets. We depend on
our relationships with coffee brokers, exporters and growers for the supply of our primary raw material, high-quality Arabica coffee beans. In particular, the supply of Fair Trade Certified coffees is limited. We may not be able to purchase enough
Fair Trade Certified coffees to satisfy the rapidly increasing demand for such coffees, which could impact our revenue growth.