Keurig Dr Pepper 10-K 2020-12-31

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED December 31, 2020

OR

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM TO

COMMISSION FILE NUMBER 001-33829

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer", "accelerated filer", "smaller reporting company", and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Large Accelerated Filer ☒ Accelerated Filer ☐ Non-Accelerated Filer ☐ Smaller Reporting Company ☐ Emerging Growth Company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934).Yes ☐ No ☒

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

As of June 30, 2020, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant's common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant (treating directors, executive officers and beneficial owners of 10% or more of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of that date, for this purpose, as affiliates) was approximately $13.7 billion (based on the closing sales price of the registrant's common stock on that date).

As of February 23, 2021, there were 1,407,267,272 shares of the registrant's common stock, par value $0.01 per share, outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant's definitive proxy statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the registrant's Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference in Part III.

KEURIG DR PEPPER INC.

FORM 10-K

FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020

KEURIG DR PEPPER INC.

FORM 10-K

FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020

MASTER GLOSSARY

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KEURIG DR PEPPER INC.

FORM 10-K

FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020

References throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K to "we", "our", "KDP" or "the Company" refer to Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. and all wholly-owned subsidiaries included in our audited Consolidated Financial Statements.

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our audited Consolidated Financial Statements and the related Notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that are based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections about our business and operations. Our actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated and expressed in such forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including the factors described under "Risk Factors" within Item 1A and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and subsequent filings with the SEC.

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Part I

OUR COMPANY

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. is a leading beverage company in North America, with a diverse portfolio of flavored (non-cola) CSDs, NCBs, including water (enhanced and flavored), ready-to-drink tea and coffee, juice, juice drinks, mixers and specialty coffee, and is a leading producer of innovative single serve brewing systems. With a wide range of hot and cold beverages that meet virtually any consumer need, KDP key brands include Keurig, Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, Snapple, Bai, Mott's, Core, Green Mountain and The Original Donut Shop. KDP has some of the most recognized beverage brands in North America, with significant consumer awareness levels and long histories that evoke strong emotional connections with consumers. KDP offers more than 125 owned, licensed and partner brands, including the top ten best-selling coffee brands and Dr Pepper as a leading flavored CSD in the U.S. according to IRi, available nearly everywhere people shop and consume beverages.

KDP was created through the combination of the business operations of Keurig, a leading producer of innovative single serve brewing systems and specialty coffee in the U.S. and Canada, and DPS, a company built over time through a series of strategic acquisitions that brought together iconic beverage brands in North America such as Dr Pepper, Snapple, 7UP, Canada Dry, Mott's, A&W and the Peñafiel business in Mexico. The DPS Merger was consummated on July 9, 2018, at which time DPS changed its name to Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. and began trading on the NYSE under the symbol "KDP". Today, we trade on Nasdaq under the symbol KDP, and we are a member of the Nasdaq 100 Index.

Refer to Note 5 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further information related to the DPS Merger.

OUR STRENGTHS AND STRATEGY

The key strengths of our business are:

Strong portfolio of leading, consumer-preferred brands. We own a diverse portfolio of well-known CSD, coffee and NCB brands. Many of our brands enjoy high levels of consumer awareness, preference and loyalty rooted in their rich heritage. This portfolio provides our retailers, bottlers and distributors, and other customers with a wide variety of products to meet consumers' needs and provides us with a platform for growth and profitability.

Scale distribution and selling system. We have strategically-located distribution capabilities, which enables us to better align our operations with our customers and our channels, to ensure our products are available to meet consumer demand, to reduce transportation costs and to have greater control over the timing and coordination of new product launches. We actively manage transportation of our products using our fleet (owned and leased) of approximately 6,100 vehicles in the U.S. and 1,700 in Mexico, as well as third party logistics providers.

Innovation, renovation, acquisition and partnering capabilities. We drive growth in our business by a combination of innovating and renovating our portfolio of owned brands and partnerships with other leading beverage brands. We have a robust innovation program, which is designed to meet consumers' changing flavor and beverage preferences and to grow the number of households using our single serve brewers. We have cultivated relationships with leading beverage brands to create long-term partnerships that enable us and our partners to benefit equitably in future value creation, and where appropriate, we bring these partner brands into our owned portfolio through acquisitions. We continually evaluate making investments in companies that fill in whitespace in our portfolio.

Highly efficient business model. Our highly efficient business model, both from a cost and a cash perspective, gives us optionality to invest internally and look outside for acquisitions or other options to continue to drive growth and create value.

PRODUCTS AND DISTRIBUTION

We are a leading integrated brand owner, manufacturer, and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. We have a portfolio of brands with the ability to satisfy every consumer need, anytime and anywhere – hot or cold, at home or on-the-go, at work or at play.

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The following presents highlights of our major owned and licensed brands as of December 31, 2020:

All information regarding our brand market positions in the U.S. is based on retail market dollars in 2020. U.S. beverage information is from IRi; U.S. brewing system information is from NPD.

In the CSD market in the U.S. and Canada, we participate primarily in the flavored segment of the CSD category. In addition to our major brands above, we also own regional and smaller niche brands, such as Big Red, Sun Drop and Vernors. In the CSD market, we distribute finished beverages and manufacture beverage concentrates and fountain syrups. Our beverage concentrates, which are highly concentrated proprietary flavors used to make syrup or finished beverages, are used by our own Packaged Beverages segment, as well as sold to third party bottling companies through our Beverage Concentrates segment. According to IRi, we had a 23.8% share of the U.S. CSD market in 2020 (measured by retail sales), an increase of 110 bps versus 2019. We also manufacture fountain syrup that we sell to the foodservice industry directly and indirectly through bottlers or through other third parties.

In the NCB market segment in the U.S., we participate primarily in the premium water category, including enhanced and flavored water, ready-to-drink tea, juice, juice drinks, and mixer categories. In addition to our major brands above, we also sell regional and smaller niche brands, such as Nantucket Nectars. We manufacture most of our NCBs as ready-to-drink beverages and distribute them through our own distribution network and through third parties or direct to our customers' warehouses. In addition to NCB beverages, we also manufacture Mott's apple sauce as a finished product.

In Mexico and the Caribbean, we participate primarily in the carbonated mineral water, flavored CSDs, bottled water and vegetable juice categories. In Mexico, we manufacture and sell our brands through both our own manufacturing and distribution operations as well as third party bottlers. In the Caribbean, we distribute our products solely through third party distributors and bottlers. We have also begun to distribute certain products in other international jurisdictions through various third party bottlers and distributors.

Our Keurig single serve brewers are aimed at changing the way consumers prepare and enjoy coffee and other beverages both at home and away from home in places such as offices, restaurants, cafeterias, convenience stores and hotels. We create value by developing and selling our Keurig single serve brewers and by expanding Keurig brewer household adoption, which increased nearly 10% for the year ended December 31, 2020 to approximately 33 million U.S. households, based on third party survey data and our own estimates. Expansion of Keurig system household adoption enables sales of specialty coffee and a variety of other specialty beverages in K-Cup pods (including hot and iced teas, hot cocoa and other beverages) for use with Keurig brewers. We also offer traditional whole bean and ground coffee in other package types, including bags, fractional packages and cans. We, together with our partners, are able to bring consumers high-quality coffee and other beverage experiences from the brands they love, all through the one-touch simplicity and convenience of Keurig brewers. We currently offer a portfolio of more than 125 owned, licensed, partner and private label brands, including the top ten best-selling coffee brands in the U.S. based on IRi.

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PRODUCT INNOVATION

We are focused on a robust innovation pipeline within our portfolio of products to build household penetration of our business. We regularly launch new brewers with new features and benefits, technological advances, and changes in aesthetics and sustainability to provide a variety of options to suit individual consumer preferences. We also continuously innovate and renovate our portfolio of K-cup pods, CSDs and NCBs to provide an expansive array of flavors.

During 2020, we introduced the K-Supreme and the K-Supreme Plus brewers, which include multi-stream technology to provide the consumer better extraction compared to previous models, while adding new controls for temperature and strength. We also launched a limited-edition brewer designed by Jonathan Adler. We achieved our longstanding commitment to make all of the K-Cup pods that we produce recyclable, as the pods are now made from polypropylene #5 plastic. We launched a line of K-Cup pods to provide one-step lattes with our Original Donut Shop Vanilla and Mocha lattes.

Within our CSD portfolio, we launched Dr Pepper & Cream Soda, which was the best-selling CSD innovation in 2020 according to IRi, and Canada Dry Bold. Within our NCB portfolio, we launched Zambia Bing Cherry and Blackberry Lemonade, two new flavors for Bai, and Snapple’s Mystery Flavor as a limited time offer. We have also begun the rollout of new PET bottles made from 100% recycled PET for Snapple and Core.

OUR BUSINESS OPERATIONS

As of December 31, 2020, our operating structure consists of four operating segments: Coffee Systems, Packaged Beverages, Beverage Concentrates, and Latin America Beverages. Segment financial data, including financial information about foreign and domestic operations, is included in Note 18 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements.

Coffee Systems

Our Coffee Systems segment is primarily a producer of innovative single serve brewers and specialty coffee in the U.S. and Canada.

Our Coffee Systems segment manufactures over 75% of the pods in the single-serve K-Cup pod format in the U.S. We manufacture and sell 100% of the K-Cup pods of the following brands to retailers, away from home channel participants and end-use consumers: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, The Original Donut Shop, McCafé, Laughing Man, REVV, and Van Houtte.

We manufacture and sell K-Cup pods for the following brands to our partners, who in turn sell them to retailers: Starbucks, Smuckers, Peet's, Dunkin' Donuts, Folgers, Newman’s Own Organics, Caribou Coffee, Eight O’Clock, Maxwell House, and Tim Hortons, as well as private label arrangements. Generally, we are able to sell these brands to our away from home channel participants and end-use consumers. We also have agreements for manufacturing, distributing, and selling K-Cup pods for tea under brands such as Celestial Seasonings, Lipton and Tazo in addition to K-Cup pods of our own brand, Snapple. We also produce and sell K-Cup pods for cocoa, including through a licensing agreement for the Swiss Miss brand, and hot apple cider, including under our own brand, Mott's.

Our Coffee Systems segment manufactures its K-Cup pods in facilities in North America that include specialty designed proprietary high-speed packaging lines using freshly roasted and ground coffee as well as tea, cocoa and other products. We offer high-quality coffee including certified single-origin, organic, flavored, limited edition and proprietary blends. We carefully select our coffee beans and appropriately roast the coffees to optimize their taste and flavor differences. We engineer and design most of our single serve brewers, where we then utilize third-party contract manufacturers located in various countries in Asia for brewer appliance manufacturing. We distribute our brewers using third-party distributors, retail partners and through our website at www.keurig.com.

In 2020, Walmart and Costco were the Coffee Systems segment's largest customers. The loss of one of those customers could have a material adverse effect on the Coffee Systems segment.

Packaged Beverages

Our Packaged Beverages segment is principally a brand ownership, manufacturing and distribution business. In this segment, we primarily manufacture and distribute packaged beverages of our brands. Additionally, in order to maximize the size and scale of our manufacturing and distribution operations, we also distribute packaged beverages for our partner brands and manufacture packaged beverages for other third parties in the U.S. and Canada.

The larger NCB brands in this segment include Snapple, Mott's, Bai, Clamato, Hawaiian Punch, Core, Yoo-Hoo, ReaLemon, evian, Vita Coco and Mr and Mrs T mixers. The larger CSD brands in this segment include Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, A&W, 7UP, Sunkist, Squirt, Big Red, RC Cola, and Vernors.

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The majority of our Packaged Beverages net sales come from the manufacturing and distribution of our own brands and the contract manufacturing of certain private label and emerging brand beverages. We also recognize net sales in this segment from the distribution of our partner brands such as evian, Vita Coco, Peet's RTD coffee, A Shoc energy drinks and Runa energy drinks. We provide a route-to-market for third party brand owners seeking effective distribution for their new and emerging brands. These brands give us exposure in certain markets to fast growing segments of the beverage industry with minimal capital investment.

We sell our Packaged Beverages products through our DSD and our WD systems, both of which include sales to all major retail channels.

In 2020, Walmart was the Packaged Beverages segment's largest customer. The loss of this customer could have a material adverse effect on the Packaged Beverages segment.

Beverage Concentrates

Our Beverage Concentrates segment is principally a brand ownership business where we manufacture and sell beverage concentrates in the U.S. and Canada. Most of the brands in this segment are CSD brands. Key brands include Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, Schweppes, Crush, Sunkist, A&W, 7UP, Sun Drop, Squirt, Big Red, Hawaiian Punch and RC Cola. Almost all of our beverage concentrates are currently manufactured at our plant in St. Louis, Missouri. We are expanding our manufacturing capabilities to include a concentrate manufacturing facility in Ireland in 2021.

Beverage concentrates are shipped to third party bottlers, as well as to our own manufacturing systems, who combine them with carbonation, water, sweeteners and other ingredients, package the combined product in aluminum cans, PET containers and glass bottles, and sell them as a finished beverage to retailers. Beverage concentrates are also manufactured into syrup, which is shipped to fountain customers, such as fast food restaurants, who mix the syrup with water and carbonation to create a finished beverage at the point of sale to consumers. Dr Pepper represents most of our fountain channel volume.

Our Beverage Concentrates brands are sold by our bottlers through all major retail channels. As our Beverage Concentrates business is reliant upon a small number of customers, the loss of any of our bottlers in this segment could have a material adverse effect on the segment.

Latin America Beverages

Our Latin America Beverages segment is a brand ownership, manufacturing and distribution business, with operations in Mexico representing approximately 90% of the segment's net sales. This segment participates mainly in the carbonated mineral water, flavored CSD, bottled water and vegetable juice categories. The largest brands include Peñafiel, Clamato, Squirt, Mott's, Dr Pepper, Aguafiel and Crush.

In 2020, Walmart was the Latin America Beverages segment's largest customer. The loss of this customer could have a material adverse effect on the Latin America Beverages segment.

OUR CUSTOMERS

We primarily serve the following types of customers:

Retailers

Retailers include supermarkets, hypermarkets, mass merchandisers, club stores, e-commerce retailers, office superstores, vending machines, fountains, grocery and drug stores, convenience stores and other small outlets. Retailers purchase finished beverages, K-Cup pods, appliances and accessories directly from us. Our portfolio of strong brands, operational scale and experience in the beverage industry has enabled us to maintain strong relationships with major retailers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. In 2020, our largest retailer was Walmart, representing approximately 15% of our consolidated net sales.

Bottlers and Distributors

In the U.S. and Canada, we generally grant perpetual, exclusive licenses for CSD brands and packages to bottlers for specific geographic areas. These bottlers may be affiliated with Coca-Cola, with PepsiCo, or may be independent. These agreements prohibit bottlers and distributors from selling the licensed products outside their exclusive territory and selling any imitative products in that territory. Generally, we may terminate bottling and distribution agreements only for cause, change in control or breach of agreements and the bottler or distributor may terminate without cause upon giving certain specified notice and complying with other applicable conditions. Fountain agreements for bottlers generally are not exclusive for a territory, but do restrict bottlers from carrying imitative product in the territory.

Certain NCB brands, such as Snapple, Bai, Core, Yoo-Hoo, Mistic and Nantucket Nectars are licensed for distribution in various territories to bottlers and a number of smaller distributors such as beer wholesalers, wine and spirit distributors, independent distributors and retail brokers.

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Partners

We have differentiated ourselves and the Keurig brand through our ability to create and sustain partnerships with other leading coffee, tea and beverage brand companies through multi-year licensing and manufacturing agreements that best suit each brand's interests and strengths. Typically, we manufacture pods on behalf of our partners, who in turn sell them to retailers.

As of December 31, 2020, our partner brands included, but were not limited to, Starbucks, Kirkland Signature, Dunkin' Donuts, Great Value, Peet's, Caribou Coffee, Eight O’Clock, Folgers, Newman’s Own Organics, McCafé, Maxwell House, Kroger, Krispy Kreme, Celestial Seasonings, Lipton, Tazo, Panera, and Tim Hortons.

Away from Home Channel Participants

We distribute brewers, accessories and K-Cup pods (owned, licensed, and partner brands) to away from home channel participants, which include restaurants, hotel chains, and office coffee distributors.

End-use Consumers

We have a robust e-commerce platform at www.keurig.com where end-use consumers can purchase brewers, accessories, K-Cup pods and other coffee products such as bagged traditional coffee and cold brew.

OUR COMPETITORS

The beverage industry is highly competitive and continues to evolve in response to changing consumer preferences. Competition is generally based on brand recognition, taste, quality, price, availability, selection and convenience, as well as factors related to corporate responsibility and sustainability. We compete with multinational corporations with significant financial resources. In our bottling and manufacturing operations, we also compete with a number of smaller bottlers and distributors and a variety of smaller, regional and private label manufacturers.

The following represents a list of our major competitors:

Although these companies offer competing brands in categories we participate in, they are also our partners and customers, as they purchase beverage concentrates or K-Cup pods directly from us.

OUR MATERIAL RESOURCES

Our Raw Materials

The principal raw materials we use in our business, which we commonly refer to as ingredients and materials, approximate 58% of our cost of sales and include green coffee, PET bottles and caps, including both virgin and recycled PET, aluminum cans and ends, sweeteners, paper products, K-Cup pod packaging materials, fruit, glass bottles and enclosures, juices, teas, water, and other ingredients. We also use post-consumer recycled materials in the manufacturing of our single serve brewers. The availability, quality and costs of many of these materials have fluctuated, and may continue to fluctuate, over time.

When appropriate, we mitigate the exposure to volatility in the prices of certain commodities used in our production process and transportation to our customers through the use of various commodity derivative contracts or supplier pricing agreements. The intent of the contracts and agreements is to provide a certain level of predictability in our operating margins and our overall cost structure, while remaining in what we believe to be a competitive cost position.

Ingredients and materials, excluding green coffee. Under many of our supply arrangements for these raw materials, the price we pay fluctuates along with certain changes in underlying commodities costs, such as aluminum in the case of cans and ends, natural gas in the case of glass bottles, resin in the case of pods, PET bottles and caps, corn in the case of sweeteners and pulp in the case of paperboard packaging.

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Green coffee. We purchase green coffee through outside brokers. We also develop and pursue direct relationships with farms, estates, cooperatives, and cooperative groups in order to support our broader traceability and sustainable supply chain initiatives. During 2020, 82% of our purchases of green coffee were responsibly sourced through third party sourcing programs, and by the end of 2020, all coffee contracted to be received going forward is 100% responsibly sourced. These purchases include a corresponding premium to recognize the effort required to achieve the sustainability standard and are traceable back to the exporter mill, farm or group of farms. We believe that traceability helps us manage social and environmental risk, secure long-term supplies of high-quality coffee and identify opportunities for supply chain investments.

Energy costs. In addition to ingredients and packaging costs, we are significantly impacted by changes in fuel costs, which can also fluctuate substantially, due to the large truck fleet we operate in our distribution operations and the energy costs consumed in the production process. The fuel costs associated with our distribution operations are reflected within our SG&A expenses.

Our Intellectual Property

Trademarks and Patents

We possess a variety of intellectual property rights that are important to our business. We rely on a combination of trademarks, copyrights, patents and trade secrets to safeguard our proprietary rights, including our brands, our technologies, and ingredient and production formulas for our products.

We own numerous trademarks in our portfolio within the U.S., Canada, Mexico and other countries. Depending upon the jurisdiction, trademarks are valid as long as they are in use and/or their registrations are properly maintained.

In many countries outside the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the manufacturing and distribution rights to many of our CSD brands, including our Dr Pepper trademark and formula, are owned by third parties including, in certain cases, competitors such as Coca-Cola.

We hold U.S. and international patents related to Keurig brewers and K-Cup pod technology. Of these, a majority are utility patents and the remainder are design patents. We view these patents as valuable assets but we do not view any single patent as critical to our success. We also have pending patent applications associated with Keurig brewers and K-Cup pod technology. We take steps that we believe are appropriate to protect such innovation.

Licensing Arrangements

We license various trade names from our partners in order to manufacture K-Cup pods. Although these licenses vary in length and other terms, they generally are long-term, cover the entire U.S. and/or Canada and generally include an upfront payment to the partner in order to use their trade names to manufacture and/or distribute the K-Cup pods.

For CSDs and NCBs, we license various trademarks from third parties, which generally allow us to manufacture and distribute certain products or brands throughout the U.S. and/or Canada and Mexico. For example, we license trademarks for Sunkist soda, Stewart's, Rose's and Margaritaville from third parties. Although these licenses vary in length and other terms, they generally are long-term, cover the entire U.S. and/or Canada and Mexico and generally include a royalty payment to the licensor.

For CSDs and NCBs in emerging and fast growing categories where we may not currently have a brand presence, we license various trademarks from third party partners, which generally allow us to manufacture and distribute certain products or brands throughout the U.S., Canada or Mexico. These partners view us as a distributor with strong route-to-market resources to grow their brands. Although these licenses vary in length and other terms, they generally are long-term, cover the entire U.S. and/or Canada and Mexico, and generally require a payment from the partner if the licensing agreement is terminated. In some instances, we make investments in these companies, which may include a path to acquire the company after a period of time based on a pre-determined formula. As of December 31, 2020, our portfolio of partner brands included, but was not limited to, Vita Coco coconut water, evian water, A Shoc energy drinks, Peet's RTD Coffee, Runa energy drinks, Polar Beverages seltzer water, and Don't Quit nutrition shakes.

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OUR HUMAN CAPITAL RESOURCES

Our Employees

We have nearly 27,000 employees, primarily located in North America. In the U.S., we have approximately 21,500 employees, of which approximately 4,500 employees are covered by union collective bargaining agreements. In Mexico, we have approximately 4,000 employees, of which approximately 3,000 are covered by union collective bargaining agreements. In Canada, we have approximately 1,500 employees, with approximately 500 covered by union collective bargaining agreements.

These collective bargaining agreements generally address working conditions, as well as wage rates and benefits, and expire over varying terms over the next several years. We generally believe that these agreements can be renegotiated on terms satisfactory to us as they expire and that we have good relationships with our employees and their representative organizations.

Our compensation programs are designed to ensure that we attract and retain the right talent. We generally review and consider median market pay levels when assessing total compensation, but pay decisions are based on a more comprehensive set of considerations such as company performance, individual performance, experience, and internal equity.

Our employee benefits programs strive to deliver competitive benefits that are effective in attracting and retaining talent, that create a culture of well-being and inclusiveness, and that meet the diverse needs of our employees. Our total package of benefits is designed to support the physical, mental, and financial health of our employees, and we currently provide access to medical, dental, vision, life insurance and retirement benefits, as well as disability benefits, and assistance with major life activities such as adoption, childbirth, and eldercare, among other benefits.

Our Culture

Together with our employees, we created a set of core values that are a unifying force for our team and are the cornerstone of KDP's culture. These core values are:

• Team First. Win together. Be the kind of person you want on your team.

• Deliver Big. Achieve our commitments. Then push beyond the expected.

• Think Bold. Challenge the usual. Dare to try something new.

• Be Fearless and Fair. Tell the truth with courage. Listen and act with respect.

Additionally, we have adopted a corporate code of conduct that applies to all of our employees, officers and our Board, which lays the foundation for ethical behavior for our team. Our code of conduct is available on our website at http://www.keurigdrpepper.com.

Diversity and Inclusion

With our DPS Merger integration complete, in early 2020, our focus turned to accelerating our work in the area of diversity and inclusion, and we made significant progress, despite the pandemic. We approached this effort as we approach critical business priorities, using our playbook from integration and transformation initiatives. To date, we have:

• Defined our aspiration and strategy for diversity and inclusion;

• Established executive-level governance, including participation by our Chairman and CEO, as well as a Diversity and Inclusion leadership team, comprised of committed leaders from across KDP to help set priorities and lead two-way dialogue throughout the organization;

• Launched eight Employee Resource Groups, which are each sponsored by a member of the executive leadership team and are open to all employees;

• Expanded our participation in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Business for Inclusive Growth global coalition, joining the Inclusive Workplaces project team in addition to the Human Rights and Inclusive Value Chain teams; and

• Partnered with professional external resources to provide guidance on best practices to ensure that we are capturing a broad range of employee perspectives.

We will report our progress with expanded disclosures in our Corporate Responsibility Report, which is expected to be published in June 2021.

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Employee Health and Safety

KDP uses a wide variety of strategies and programs to support the health and safety of our employees. From training on risks from non-routine tasks, such as unexpected maintenance on equipment, to installing automated systems to prevent trailers from shifting during loading and unloading, our Environmental Health & Safety team considers all aspects of what our employees may encounter and works to minimize risk. Key to these efforts are data and preventive actions. KDP measures Lost Time Incident Rate, a reliable indication of Total Recordable Injuries Rate severity, and uses a risk reduction process that thoroughly analyzes injuries and near misses.

Our Response to COVID-19

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken extraordinary measures to protect the safety and well-being of our employees. These measures include enhanced and comprehensive sanitation, physical distancing, and health protocols; directing most of our office employees to work from home, leveraging technology and collaboration tools; providing enhanced paid sick time, along with back-up childcare assistance, as needed; and provided temporary financial incentives to our frontline employees, who are working selflessly to manufacture, distribute and stock store shelves with the essential goods our communities need.

SEASONALITY OF OUR BUSINESS

The beverage market is subject to some seasonal variations. Our cold beverage sales are generally higher during the warmer months, while hot beverage sales are generally higher during the cooler months. Overall beverage sales can also be influenced by the timing of holidays and weather fluctuations. Sales of brewers and related accessories are generally higher during the second half of the year due to the holiday shopping season.

GOVERNMENTAL REGULATIONS ON OUR BUSINESS

In the normal course of our business, We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local laws and regulations in the countries in which we do business. Regulations apply to many aspects of our business, including our products and their ingredients, manufacturing, safety, labeling, transportation, recycling, advertising and sale. For example, our products and their manufacturing, labeling, marketing and sale in the U.S. are subject to various aspects of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Lanham Act, state consumer protection laws and state warning and labeling laws, such as Proposition 65. Certain cities and municipalities within the U.S. have also passed various taxes on the distribution of sugar-sweetened and diet beverages, which are at different stages of enactment. In Canada and Mexico, the manufacture, distribution, marketing and sale of many of our products are also subject to similar statutes and regulations.

Various states, provinces and other authorities require deposits, eco-taxes or fees on certain products or packaging. Similar legislation or regulations may be proposed in the future at local, state and federal levels, both in the U.S. and elsewhere. In Mexico, the government has encouraged the soft drink industry to comply voluntarily with collection and recycling programs for plastic materials, and we are in compliance with these programs.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

In all we do, we are committed to acting responsibly, and our ambition is to ensure our beverages make a positive impact with every drink. Drink Well. Do Good. is our corporate responsibility platform. Under this platform, we focus on our greatest opportunities for impact in our supply chain, the environment, our communities, and on the health and well-being of our consumers. We are committed to transparency and disclosure of corporate responsibility strategies, programs, progress and governance. Please refer to our Corporate Responsibility Report, available on our website at www.keurigdrpepper.com. Select highlights from the report are discussed below.

As a result of our sustainability efforts, in 2020, Newsweek named us one of America's most responsible companies. Newsweek ranked us as the top beverage company, as well as giving us the top environmental score for all consumer goods companies.

Sustainable Packaging

Sustainable packaging is a top priority for us, and we continue to innovate for circular solutions across our portfolio. We have set a goal to make 100% of our packaging recyclable or compostable by 2025. We also want to further contribute to the circular economy with our commitment to use 30% recycled material across our packaging portfolio by 2025. In the fourth quarter of 2020, we began transitioning our Snapple and Core brands to bottles made with 100% post-consumer recycled PET.

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Already, the majority of our bottles are recyclable and we are ensuring that our packaging materials are optimally designed to be the highest value possible for recycled plastic buyers, which will increasingly include us. To reduce contamination in the recycling stream, we are replacing dark-colored plastics with clear plastic, making our bottles, labels and caps compatible with widely-used bottle recycling processes, and supporting consumer education campaigns on how to "recycle right". We have also partnered with the American Beverage Association and other beverage industry leaders on the Every Bottle Back initiative*,* a breakthrough effort to reduce our industry’s use of new plastic and increase the recycling and reuse of our PET bottles. The initiative includes a $100 million industry-backed fund to invest in improved sorting, processing and collection efforts that would increase the quality and availability of recycled plastic across the country.

In December 2020, we achieved our goal of making all K-Cup pods sold in the U.S. recyclable by the end of 2020, having converted all K-Cup pods sold in Canada to a recyclable format in 2018. The new pods are made of polypropylene #5 plastic, a material that is accepted curbside for recycling by many communities, and we have conducted extensive testing with municipal recycling facilities to validate that they can be effectively recycled. We continue to engage with municipalities and recycling facilities to advance the quantity and quality of recycled polypropylene and have committed $10 million toward the advancement of polypropylene recycling in the U.S. through the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, an effort led by The Recycling Partnership and funded by leading brands, recyclers, converters and producers of polypropylene.

Improving packaging solutions for product quality, consumer use, recoverability and reuse requires collaboration of all parties along the value chain. Using our strength in forming partnerships, we collaborate closely with a number of stakeholders, including industry groups, non-governmental organizations and investment firms, to move our commitments beyond independent ambitions to collective action.

Climate Change and Resilience

KDP is working to address climate change and build the resilience of our business and supply chain. In 2019, we laid the groundwork for important new climate targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a 2018 baseline. This foundation included a corporate policy, governance structures and greater transparency, including reporting to CDP Climate. Our targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative and are in line with the reductions that are required to meet the Paris Agreement on climate change goal of keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. Our new climate goals provide a clear path for us to reduce our share of greenhouse gas emissions through continuation of existing efforts and the development of new focus areas, such as packaging improvements and value chain engagement.

Water Stewardship

KDP conducts periodic water risk assessments of its operations and supply chain. To refine our understanding of challenges for our high water-risk sites, we assess each site in the context of the surrounding watershed, the local water issues and other local entities’ interest and perspective on those issues. We have public goals and programs to both increase operational efficiency and to replenish water through conservation and restoration projects with conservation organizations in communities where we operate that have high water risk. We report annually on our water stewardship efforts to CDP Water.

In 2020, KDP joined a water stewardship effort to increase water supply reliability for Arizona, Nevada, and California through a system conservation project with the Colorado River Indian Tribes. Additionally, we were a founding company member in the first-of-its kind beverage industry collaboration project to improve water quantity and quality in Jalisco, Mexico through activities such as planting native vegetation and restoring water infrastructure in the area.

Health and Well-Being

We are committed to providing a balanced portfolio of beverage options and the resources consumers need to make informed choices for positive nutrition. We have dramatically transformed our portfolio over the past decade, offering a low- or no-calorie option for virtually every full-calorie brand in our portfolio, and we have also added smaller portion-size offerings. Our approach to product development and marketing is rooted in what our diverse universe of consumers want from their beverage occasion. We are committed to advertising our products in a responsible and truthful manner, aligned with the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.

In 2014, we joined industry peers to form the Balance Calories Initiative, managed by the American Beverage Association and in partnership with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The Balance Calories Initiative is the single-largest voluntary effort by an industry to help fight obesity, and its target is to reduce beverage calories consumed per person nationally by 20% by 2025.

We also know that health equality is about ensuring opportunities for physical activity. Since 2011, we’ve provided more than 14 million kids and their families in underserved areas with play opportunities through our Let’s Play initiative, building or improving play spaces and supplying sports equipment to schools and youth groups across the country.

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OTHER INFORMATION

Our website address is www.keurigdrpepper.com. Information on our website is not incorporated by reference in this document. We make available, free of charge through this website, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed, or furnished to, the SEC.

MARKET AND INDUSTRY DATA

The market and industry data in this Annual Report on Form 10-K is from IRi, an independent industry source, and is based on retail dollar sales and sales volumes in 2020. Although we believe that this independent source is reliable, we have not verified the accuracy or completeness of this data or any assumptions underlying such data. IRi is a marketing information provider, primarily serving consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers. We use IRi data as our primary management tool to track market performance because it has broad and deep data coverage, is based on consumer transactions at retailers, and is reported to us monthly. IRi data provides measurement and analysis of marketplace trends such as market share, retail pricing, promotional activity and distribution across various channels, retailers and geographies. Measured categories provided to us by IRi include K-Cup pods, CSDs, including energy drinks and carbonated waters, and NCBs, including ready-to-drink teas and coffee, single-serve and multi-serve juice and juice drinks, sports drinks, still waters and non-alcoholic mixers. IRi also provides data on other food items such as apple sauce. IRi data we present in this report is from IRi service, which compiles data based on scanner transactions in key retail channels, including grocery stores, mass merchandisers (including Walmart), club stores (excluding Costco), drug chains, convenience stores and gas stations. However, this data does not include the fountain or vending channels, or small independent retail outlets, which together represent a meaningful portion of the U.S. beverage market. This data does not include certain customers and e-commerce sales which represents a significant portion of our Coffee Systems segment.

Our market share data for our brewers is based on information provided by NPD. NPD data is based upon Consumer Panel Track SM (consumer-reported sales) calibrated with selected retailers' point of sale data, based on NPD's definition of the coffeemaker category. The data presented is based upon The NPD/Consumer Tracking Service for Coffeemakers in the U.S. and represents the twelve month period ended December 31, 2020.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR OPERATIONS

Widespread health developments and economic uncertainty resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business has been, and may continue to be, adversely impacted by the response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in countries where we operate or our customers and suppliers are located, due to recommendations or mandates from governmental authorities to close businesses, limit travel, avoid large gatherings or self-quarantine, as well as temporary closures or decreased operations of the facilities of our customers, distributors or suppliers. These impacts include, but are not limited to:

• Significant reductions in demand or significant volatility in demand for one or more of our products, as a result of, among other things: the temporary inability of consumers to purchase our products due to illness, quarantine or other restrictions, store closures, or financial hardship, shifts in demand away from one or more of our higher priced products to lower priced products, or stockpiling or similar activity, reduced options for marketing and promotion of products or other restrictions in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic; if prolonged, such impacts could further increase the difficulty of operating our business during the pandemic, including accurately planning and forecasting customer demand;

• Inability to meet our consumers' and customers’ needs and achieve cost targets due to disruptions in our manufacturing and supply arrangements caused by the loss or disruption of essential manufacturing and supply elements, such as raw materials or purchased finished goods, logistics, reduction or loss of workforce due to the insufficiency or failure of our safety protocols, or other manufacturing and distribution capability;

• Failure of third parties, including those located in international locations, on which we rely, including our suppliers, bottlers, distributors, contract manufacturers, third-party service providers, contractors, commercial banks and external business partners, to meet their obligations to us or to timely meet those obligations, or significant disruptions in their ability to do so, which may be caused by their own financial or operational difficulties; or

• Significant changes in the conditions in markets in which we manufacture, sell or distribute our products, including quarantines, governmental or regulatory actions, closures or other restrictions that limit or close our operating and manufacturing facilities, restrict our employees’ ability to perform necessary business functions, restrict or prevent consumers from having access to our products, or otherwise prevent our third-party bottlers, distributors, partners, suppliers, or customers from sufficiently staffing operations, including operations necessary for the production, distribution, sale, and support of our products.

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All of these impacts could place limitations on our ability to execute on our business plan and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We continue to monitor the situation, have actively implemented policies and procedures to address the situation, and as the pandemic continues to further unfold, we may adjust our current policies and procedures as regulations or governmental orders are implemented or more information and guidance become available. The impact of COVID-19 may also exacerbate other risks discussed in Item 1A of our Annual Report, any of which could have a material effect on us. This situation is changing rapidly and additional impacts may arise that we are not aware of currently.

We operate in intensely competitive categories.

The industry in which we operate is highly competitive and continues to evolve in response to changing consumer preferences. Some of our competitors, such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, The Kraft Heinz Company and Nestlé S.A., are multinational corporations with significant financial resources. These competitors can use their resources and scale to rapidly respond to competitive pressures and changes in consumer preferences by introducing new products, changing their route to market, reducing prices or increasing promotional activities. We also compete with a number of smaller brands and a variety of smaller, regional and private label manufacturers. Smaller companies may be more innovative, better able to bring new products to market and better able to quickly exploit and serve niche markets. We also compete for contract manufacturing with other bottlers and manufacturers. In Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, we compete with many of these same international companies as well as a number of regional competitors.

Our sales may be negatively affected by numerous factors including our inability to maintain or increase prices, our inability to effectively promote our products, ineffective advertising and marketing campaigns, new entrants into the market, the decision of wholesalers, retailers or consumers to purchase competitors' products instead of ours, and increased marketing costs and in-store placement and slotting fees due to our competitors' willingness to spend aggressively. Competitive pressures may also cause us to reduce prices we charge customers or may restrict our ability to increase such prices. In addition, the rapid growth of e-commerce may create additional consumer price deflation by, among other things, facilitating comparison shopping, and could potentially threaten the value of some of our legacy route-to-market strategies and thus negatively affect revenues.

A significant percentage of the Coffee Systems segment's financial performance is attributable to sales of K-Cup pods for use with Keurig brewing systems. We compete for sales of K-Cup pods against local and regional brands, as well as against private label brands developed by retailers. Our ability to gain or maintain share of sales in the countries in which we operate or in various local marketplaces or maintain or enhance our relationships with our partners and customers may be limited as a result of actions by competitors, including as a result of increased consolidation in the food and beverage industry and a significant increase in the number of competitive pod contract manufacturers.

Continued acceptance of Keurig brewers and sales of K-Cup pods to an increasing installed customer base are significant factors in our Coffee Systems' growth plans. Any substantial or sustained decline in the sale of Keurig brewers, failure to continue to reduce the cost of Keurig brewers, or substantial or sustained decline in the sales of K-Cup pods could materially and adversely affect our business. Keurig brewers compete against all sellers and types of coffeemakers. If we do not succeed in continuing to reduce the costs of manufacturing Keurig brewers or differentiating Keurig brewers from our competitors in the coffeemaker category, based on technology, quality of products, desired brands or otherwise, or our competitors adopt their respective strategies, our competitive position may be weakened.

Costs and supply for commodities, such as raw materials and energy, may change substantially and shortages may occur.

Our raw materials are sourced from industries characterized by a limited supply base, and their cost can fluctuate substantially. Under many of our supply arrangements, the price we pay for raw materials fluctuates along with certain changes in underlying commodities costs. Price increases for our raw materials could exert pressure on our costs and we may not be able to effectively hedge or pass along any such increases to our customers or consumers. Furthermore, any price increases passed along to our customers or consumers could reduce demand for

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None.

We have two corporate headquarters, located in Burlington, Massachusetts and Plano, Texas, both of which are leased. Our Plano headquarters will move to Frisco, Texas in 2021.

The following table summarizes our principal manufacturing plants and principal warehouse and distribution facilities by geography and reportable segment as of December 31, 2020:

(1)Our manufacturing facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is excluded from the above table as it is currently under construction and not operational. We expect this facility to be operational during 2021.

(2)Our manufacturing facility in Newbridge, Ireland, is excluded from the above table as it is currently under construction and not operational. We expect this facility to be operational during 2021.

We believe our facilities are well-maintained and adequate, that they are being appropriately utilized and that they have sufficient production capacity for their present intended purposes. The extent of utilization of such facilities varies based on seasonal demand for our products. It is not possible to measure with any degree of certainty or uniformity the productive capacity and extent of utilization of these facilities. We periodically review our space requirements, and we look to consolidate and dispose or sublet facilities we no longer need as appropriate.

We are occasionally subject to litigation or other legal proceedings relating to our business. Refer to Note 16 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements related to commitments and contingencies, which is incorporated herein by reference.

BODYARMOR LITIGATION

On March 6, 2019, ABC, a subsidiary of KDP, filed suit against BodyArmor and Mike Repole in the Superior Court for the State of Delaware. The complaint asserted claims for breach of contract and promissory estoppel against BodyArmor and asserted a claim for tortious interference against Mr. Repole, in each case in connection with BodyArmor's attempted early termination of the distribution contract between BodyArmor and ABC. The complaint seeks monetary damages relating to lost distribution revenues, disgorgement of profits, liquidated and punitive damages, attorneys' fees and costs. ABC filed an amended complaint which added Coca-Cola as a defendant to the suit and asserted a claim for tortious interference against Coca-Cola. In December 2020, the court dismissed the individual claim against Mr. Repole, but ABC's claims against BodyArmor and Coca-Cola continue. Fact and expert discovery in the case is ongoing and a trial date has been set for November 2021. ABC intends to continue to vigorously prosecute the action. We are unable to predict the outcome of the lawsuit, the potential recovery, if any, associated with the resolution of the lawsuit or any potential effect it may have on us or our operations.

Not applicable.

PART II

Effective September 21, 2020, our common stock was listed and began trading on Nasdaq's Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "KDP". From July 9, 2018, through September 18, 2020, our common stock was listed and traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "KDP". Prior to the closing of the DPS Merger, our common stock was listed and traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "DPS".

As of December 31, 2020, there were 10,375 stockholders of record of our common stock.

KDP's Board has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend and expects to continue to pay such dividends on a quarterly basis.

ISSUER REPURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

None.

COMPARISON OF TOTAL STOCKHOLDER RETURN

The following performance graph compares the cumulative total returns of DPS through July 9, 2018 and KDP from July 10, 2018 through December 31, 2020 with the cumulative total returns of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P Food and Beverage Select Industry Index. We believe that these indices convey an accurate assessment of our performance as compared to the industry.

The graph assumes that $100 was invested on December 31, 2015, with dividends reinvested quarterly. The graph additionally assumes that a special cash dividend of $103.75 which was declared and paid as a result of the DPS Merger was reinvested in KDP once shares resumed trading on July 10, 2018.

This section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K generally discusses the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 and year-over-year comparisons between the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019. Discussions of the periods prior to the year ended December 31, 2019 that are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are found in "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and the discussion therein for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared to the year ended December 31, 2018 is incorporated by reference into this Annual Report.

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains the names of some of our owned or licensed trademarks, trade names and service marks, which we refer to as our brands. All of the product names included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are either our registered trademarks or those of our licensors.

OVERVIEW

KDP is a leading beverage company in North America, with a diverse portfolio of flavored (non-cola) CSDs, NCBs, including water (enhanced and flavored), ready-to-drink tea and coffee, juice, juice drinks, mixers and specialty coffee, and is a leading producer of innovative single serve brewers. With a wide range of hot and cold beverages that meet virtually any consumer need, KDP key brands include Keurig, Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, Snapple, Bai, Mott's, Core, Green Mountain and The Original Donut Shop. KDP has some of the most recognized beverage brands in North America, with significant consumer awareness levels and long histories that evoke strong emotional connections with consumers. KDP offers more than 125 owned, licensed and partner brands, including the top ten best-selling coffee brands and Dr Pepper as a leading flavored CSD in the U.S. according to IRi, available nearly everywhere people shop and consume beverages.

KDP operates as an integrated brand owner, manufacturer and distributor. We believe our integrated business model strengthens our route-to-market and provides opportunities for net sales and profit growth through the alignment of the economic interests of our brand ownership and our manufacturing and distribution businesses through both our DSD system and our WD delivery system. KDP markets and sells its products to retailers, including supermarkets, mass merchandisers, club stores, pure-play e-commerce retailers, and office superstores; to restaurants, hotel chains, office product and coffee distributors, and partner brand owners; and directly to consumers through its website. Our integrated business model enables us to be more flexible and responsive to the changing needs of our large retail customers and allows us to more fully leverage our scale and reduce costs by creating greater geographic manufacturing and distribution coverage.

SEGMENTS

As of December 31, 2020, we report our business in four operating segments:

• The Coffee Systems segment reflects sales in the U.S. and Canada of the manufacture and distribution of finished goods relating to the Company's single-serve brewers, K-Cup pods and other coffee products.

• The Packaged Beverages segment reflects sales in the U.S. and Canada from the manufacture and distribution of finished beverages and other products, including sales of the Company's own brands and third-party brands, through our DSD and WD systems.

• The Beverage Concentrates segment reflects sales of the Company's branded concentrates and syrup to third-party bottlers, primarily in the U.S. and Canada. Most of the brands in this segment are CSDs.

• The Latin America Beverages segment reflects sales in Mexico, the Caribbean, and other international markets from the manufacture and distribution of concentrates, syrup and finished beverages.

VOLUME

In evaluating our performance, we consider different volume measures depending on whether we sell beverage concentrates, finished beverages, pods or brewers.

Coffee Systems K-Cup Pod and Appliance Sales Volume

In our Coffee Systems segments, we measure our sales volume as the number of appliances and the number of individual K-Cup pods sold to our customers.

Packaged Beverages and Latin America Beverages Sales Volume

In our Packaged Beverages and Latin America Beverages segments, we measure volume as case sales to customers. A case sale represents a unit of measurement equal to 288 fluid ounces of packaged beverage sold by us. Case sales include both our owned brands and certain brands licensed to and/or distributed by us.

Beverage Concentrates Sales Volume

In our Beverage Concentrates segment, we measure our sales volume as concentrate case sales for concentrates sold by us to our bottlers and distributors. A concentrate case is the amount of concentrate needed to make one case of 288 fluid ounces of finished beverage, the equivalent of 24 twelve ounce servings. It does not include any other component of the finished beverage other than concentrate.

USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

Non-GAAP financial measures are provided in addition to U.S. GAAP measures, including adjusted income from operations, adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share. See Non-GAAP Financial Measures for more information, including reconciliations to the corresponding U.S. GAAP measures.

UNCERTAINTIES AND TRENDS AFFECTING OUR BUSINESS

We believe the North American beverage market is influenced by certain key trends and uncertainties. Some of these items, such as the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, changes in consumer preferences and macroeconomic changes, have previously created and may continue to create category headwinds for a number of our products. Refer to Item 1A, "Risk Factors", combined with the Uncertainties and Trends Affecting Liquidity section below, for more information about the risks and uncertainties we face.

COVID-19 Pandemic Disclosures

Our first priority, always, is to keep our employees safe and healthy. We have taken extraordinary precautions to do this and to provide the support our employees and their families may need during this unprecedented time.

We continue to deliver for our customers and consumers, working hard to fulfill strong demand. We are finding innovative ways to quickly adapt to changes in shopping behaviors, with the vast majority of North America impacted by a mix of occupancy limitations, stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders, and closures of non-essential businesses.

We are also focused on providing for our communities by supporting frontline healthcare workers who are fighting this crisis day in and day out. We don’t make masks or medical equipment at our Company, but we do make beverages and, through our Fueling The Frontline program, we donated Keurig brewers, coffee and other beverages to hospitals in need, as our way to say thank you for the unwavering commitment and courage of the entire medical community.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had divergent impacts within our business. For example, we experienced a significant increase in demand and consumption of our products in our at-home business caused in part by changing consumer habits in response to COVID-19, contributing to increases in net sales. At the same time, we experienced significant declines in net sales in our away-from-home business due to office closures and the slowdown of hospitality and fountain foodservice as a result of shelter-in-place guidelines and restaurant capacity limits. In the future, the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including higher levels of unemployment, lower wages or a recessionary environment, may result in reduced demand for our products. It could also lead to volatility in demand due to government actions, such as shelter-in-place notices, in response to increases in reported cases and hospitalizations in certain regions. These government actions could impact consumers' movements and access to our product

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We are exposed to market risks arising from changes in market rates and prices, including movements in foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates and commodity prices. From time to time, we may enter into derivatives or other financial instruments to hedge or mitigate commercial risks. We do not enter into derivative instruments for speculation, investing or trading. Refer to Note 8 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further information about our derivative instruments.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RISK

The majority of our net sales, expenses and capital purchases are transacted in U.S. dollars. However, we have exposure with respect to foreign exchange rate fluctuations. Our primary exposure to foreign exchange rates is the Canadian dollar, the Mexican peso and the Euro against the U.S. dollar. Exchange rate gains or losses related to foreign currency transactions are recognized as transaction gains or losses in our income statement as incurred. As of December 31, 2020, the impact to our income from operations of a 10% change (up or down) in exchange rates is estimated to be an increase or decrease of approximately $38 million on an annual basis.

We use derivative instruments such as foreign exchange forward contracts to manage a portion of our exposure to changes in foreign exchange rates. As of December 31, 2020, we had derivative contracts outstanding with a notional value of $809 million maturing at various dates through September 25, 2024.

INTEREST RATE RISK

We centrally manage our debt portfolio through the use of interest rate swaps and monitor our mix of fixed-rate and variable-rate debt. As of December 31, 2020, the carrying value of our fixed-rate debt, excluding lease obligations, was $13,065 million and our variable-rate debt was $423 million, inclusive of commercial paper. As of December 31, 2020, the total notional value of our receive-variable, pay-fixed interest rate swaps was $450 million. Based upon our variable rate debt and the fair value of the interest rate swaps that could result from hypothetical interest rate changes during the term of the financial instruments, there was no interest rate risk associated with our debt balances based on debt levels as of December 31, 2020.

COMMODITY RISK

We are subject to market risks with respect to commodities because our ability to recover increased costs through higher pricing may be limited by the competitive environment in which we operate. Our principal commodities risks relate to our purchases of coffee beans, PET, aluminum, diesel fuel, corn (for high fructose corn syrup), apple juice concentrate, apples, sucrose and natural gas (for use in processing and packaging).

We utilize commodities derivative instruments and supplier pricing agreements to hedge the risk of movements in commodity prices for limited time periods for certain commodities. As of December 31, 2020, we had derivative contracts outstanding with a notional value of $450 million maturing at various dates through January 1, 2024. The fair market value of these contracts as of December 31, 2020 was a net asset of $50 million.

As of December 31, 2020, the impact of a 10% change (up or down) in market prices for these commodities where the risk of movements has not been hedged is estimated to have a $15 million impact to our income from operations for the year ended December 31, 2021.

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the stockholders and the Board of Directors of

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc.

Burlington, Massachusetts

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the "financial statements"). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated February 25, 2021, expressed an unqualified opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current-period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets Valuation - Certain Brand Assets - Refer to Notes 2 and 4 to the financial statements

Critical Audit Matter Description

As discussed in Notes 2 and 4, the Company has indefinite-lived brand intangible assets (“brand assets”). The Company’s evaluation of the brand asset

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Not applicable.

EVALUATION OF DISCLOSURE CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

As required by Rules 13a-15(b) and 15d-15(b) under the Exchange Act, management, with the participation of our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2020, and has concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is (i) recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and (ii) accumulated and communicated to management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

REPORT ON INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for the Company, as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act. Our internal control system is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of the Company’s financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Our management, with the participation of the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Based on the criteria for effective internal control over financial reporting established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, management concluded that the internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2020.

All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations and may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

ATTESTATION REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020 has been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their attestation report, which is included in Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

CHANGES IN INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING

As of December 31, 2020, management has concluded that there have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during our fourth quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

None.

PART III

Information required to be set forth hereunder has been omitted and will be incorporated by reference, when filed, from our Proxy Statement.

Information required to be set forth hereunder has been omitted and will be incorporated by reference, when filed, from our Proxy Statement.

Information required to be set forth hereunder has been omitted and will be incorporated by reference, when filed, from our Proxy Statement.

Information required to be set forth hereunder has been omitted and will be incorporated by reference, when filed, from our Proxy Statement.

Information required to be set forth hereunder has been omitted and will be incorporated by reference, when filed, from our Proxy Statement.

PART IV

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The following financial statements are included in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data," in this Annual Report on Form 10-K:

• Consolidated Statements of Income for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.

• Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.

• Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2020 and 2019.

• Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.

• Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders' Equity for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.

• Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 and as of December 31, 2020 and 2019.

SCHEDULES

Schedules are omitted because they are not required or applicable, or the required information is included in the Consolidated Financial Statements or related notes.

EXHIBITS

See Exhibit Index.

EXHIBIT INDEX

• Filed herewith.

** Furnished herewith.

++ Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.