Located in Gävle, Sweden, Gevalia was introduced in 1853 in Sweden by the trading company Victor Theodore Engwall & Co KB. Jacob Engwall was CEO from 1963 to 1972. After 120 years as a family company, it was sold in 1971 to Mondelēz International predecessor company, General Foods. Most Gevalia coffee is sold in Sweden, Denmark and in the Baltic area, but some is exported to America. Gevalia owes a large part of its current success in Northern Europe to a well-known and long-running marketing campaign with the theme of "unexpected visitors", starting in the early 1990s. The campaign featured in addition to print ads and movie commercials also installations in public places in Sweden featuring submarines and airplanes. Gevalia began North American sales, via mail-order delivery service, in 1983. Gevalia is perhaps most well known for its introductory offer of a free coffeemaker and other coffee-related incentives. These offers were seen in magazine advertisements, direct mailings, and television commercials, but were later overtaken by online advertising. Some of these Gevalia.com advertisements were the basis of the 2005 Hypertouch based lawsuit. In September 2013, Gevalia Introduced specialty drink K-Cups using real milk. In 2011, Kraft announced the retail launch of Gevalia in the United States; the in-store collection started with a complete line of ground, whole bean, decaf and flavored options. A mainstream supermarket brand in Northern Europe, Gevalia is marketed in the United States as a premium brand. Gevalia holds the royal warrant of appointment for coffee roasters from the King of Sweden. Gevalia also maintains an Office Coffee Service, offering mail-order coffee by the case, as well as coffee singles. Gevalia is also sold for the Tassimo and K-Cup systems in the United States.
Coffees and teas
As of February 2007, Gevalia offered more than 40 different coffees and teas, according to Gevalia.com. The majority of these coffees are Arabica blends, using beans from Kenya, Guatemala, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Gevalia Kaffe is composed of up to six different varieties of these Arabica beans, as well as Brazilian beans.
Controversies
In 2005, Kraft was sued by Hypertouch, an ISP, for spamming its Gevalia coffee brand. Kraft was accused of sending multiple waves of junk advertisement to the ISP's customers, the action brought under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 act. The parties resolved their dispute by mutual agreement and the litigation has been dismissed. On 9 February 2012, the T discs used in Gevalia, Maxwell House and Nabob brand espresso were recalled from the market following the potential of second degree burn hazard.
