Maxwell House

Coffee prices are rising again. Maxwell House Coffee Co. said Wednesday that it is boosting the price of its ground coffee by 6.8% and its instant coffee by 5.7% in response to recent increases in the cost of raw beans. Maxwell House now charges the same for a 13-ounce can of its flagship ground coffee--$3.16 wholesale--as Procter & Gamble charges for its Folgers ground coffee. Folgers, the best-selling coffee brand in the United States last year, posted an identical 20-cent-a-can hike Friday.

For all the grief the glitchy Facebook IPO has caused Nasdaq (or is it the other way around?), the exchange operator has still managed to woo major companies away from its competitor, the New York Stock Exchange. Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.'s newest prize isKraft Foods Inc., which said Friday that it is abandoning NYSE to list on Nasdaq instead. The KFT ticker will make the jump on June 26. But it won't last long in that form: Kraft - which makes brands such as Cadbury, Maxwell House, Oreo and Trident - is in the middle of spinning off its North American grocery business.

Rick Gates clasped his hand around his mug of coffee--Maxwell House coffee--as if giving a thankful prayer. Why not? Maxwell House has made his life a lot richer. For the last five years he's been paid well over $100,000 a year (by his estimate) to take an "E" ride around the United States. He is Hal, the company's subtle pitchman, who travels with a camera and a dog named Duke to various regions of the country, sharing coffee with hospitable folks.

The cost of your morning (and midday and afternoon) buzz is falling: Folgers maker J.M. Smucker Co. is slashing coffee prices by 6% on average. Smucker also makes Millstone and Cafe Bustelo coffee brands and licenses the Dunkin' Donuts brands, which it sells in grocery stores. Due to “sustained declines” in the cost of green coffee beans, each of those brands will become cheaper. The cost of arabica beans has plunged in the past year to about $1.90 a pound from more than $3 a pound.

Procter & Gamble Co. and Philip Morris Cos., makers of the nation's best-selling Folgers and Maxwell House coffees, said they rescinded plans to cut prices after frost fears in Brazil sent the cost of wholesale beans soaring. Procter & Gamble had planned to drop the price for a 13-ounce can of its best-selling Folgers coffee by 10 cents to $2.05, effective Aug. 14. Prices now will stay at $2.15. Decaffeinated coffee, which was also set for a 10-cent drop, will stay at $2.85.

Maxwell House Coffee Co. said Friday it has cut wholesale prices on its ground and instant coffees to reflect declining prices for unprocessed coffee. The price cuts marked a continuation of the unusual volatility since summer in prices that coffee makers are charging on their sales to grocers. Maxwell House has now changed its wholesale prices seven times since late June, when damaging weather in Brazil threatened its huge coffee crop. Maxwell House, based in White Plains, N.Y.

FOR ANYONE lucky enough to have witnessed the move, it was some kind of spectacle: the 1941 Maxwell house by Richard Neutra, one of Southern California's most celebrated residential architects, loaded onto a flatbed truck for a cruise down the Sunset Strip. The midnight voyage last weekend started in Brentwood, where one-third of the house was slowly wheeled out, followed by a caravan of Neutra devotees, a real estate agent and one very nervous homeowner -- all focused on the survival of a little-known architectural gem. If all goes according to plan, the remainder of the 1,700-square-foot wooden structure will follow in coming days, taking up residence on what had been a vacant lot in Angelino Heights, the neighborhood near downtown Los Angeles best known for its flamboyant Victorians.

Two-thirds of Americans told a Maxwell House survey that they would rather spend an evening at HOME WITH THE FAMILY than at a party. Family activities of choice were shopping, watching TV and traveling.

I am taking this opportunity to congratulate NBC, Holly Hunter and sponsors such as Maxwell House, Alamo Car Rental and Olympus cameras for the wonderfully sensitive portrayal of the Roe vs. Wade case. I hope that more positive portrayals of women's issues continue to air on TV, radio and news programs. Taura Mizrahi, Venice

Lee Blair won a gold medal for the U.S. in the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles without ever training in a gym, on a track or in a pool. Blair's event: watercolor painting. Although nearly forgotten, the Olympics held from 1912 through 1948 included arts competitions, with the winners receiving the same gold, silver and bronze medals as the athletes. In addition to Blair's category -- he won for a watercolor called "Rodeo" -- there were medals for oil painting, sculpture, architecture, music and literature.

FOR ANYONE lucky enough to have witnessed the move, it was some kind of spectacle: the 1941 Maxwell house by Richard Neutra, one of Southern California's most celebrated residential architects, loaded onto a flatbed truck for a cruise down the Sunset Strip. The midnight voyage last weekend started in Brentwood, where one-third of the house was slowly wheeled out, followed by a caravan of Neutra devotees, a real estate agent and one very nervous homeowner -- all focused on the survival of a little-known architectural gem. If all goes according to plan, the remainder of the 1,700-square-foot wooden structure will follow in coming days, taking up residence on what had been a vacant lot in Angelino Heights, the neighborhood near downtown Los Angeles best known for its flamboyant Victorians.

Kraft Foods Inc. has not seen the sales growth it once expected from the Tassimo hot beverage system and may take charges as it evaluates the business, the company said. Kraft has regularly touted Tassimo as one of the products that customers are shopping for. The machine brews single-serve packets of coffee and other drinks. Kraft, based in Northfield, Ill., makes Maxwell House and other coffees.

Re "Modern Voices Join in the Telling of an Ancient Tale," April 23: Over the years I have joined in the search for a more inclusive Haggada. I have used feminist, progressive and homemade Haggadot. I have celebrated the contributions of the midwives and sung old union songs. But somehow I still find myself reaching for the Maxwell House coffee Haggada of my youth. Lisa Palley Los Angeles

Procter & Gamble Co. and Philip Morris Cos., makers of the nation's best-selling Folgers and Maxwell House coffees, said they rescinded plans to cut prices after frost fears in Brazil sent the cost of wholesale beans soaring. Procter & Gamble had planned to drop the price for a 13-ounce can of its best-selling Folgers coffee by 10 cents to $2.05, effective Aug. 14. Prices now will stay at $2.15. Decaffeinated coffee, which was also set for a 10-cent drop, will stay at $2.85.

Philip Morris Cos. said it raised the price of its Maxwell House coffee, matching an increase announced earlier by rival Procter & Gamble Co. for its Folgers brand. The increases follow a surge in the price of coffee beans because of concern that dry weather will leave next year's crop in Brazil, the world's biggest grower, much smaller than previously expected. The price of a 13-ounce can of regular ground Maxwell House coffee was raised by 30 cents to $2.51, effective immediately. * H.J.

Maxwell House Drops Ad Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, the U.S. ad agency soon to be under the ownership of the British WPP Group, lost one big client and held on to a smaller one. It lost the $50-million Maxwell House coffee advertising account, which went to the New York ad agency DMB&B. That is the first client to leave Ogilvy since the buyout was announced earlier this month. "We simply got outshot on a brand and we're very disappointed," said Ken Roman, chairman of Ogilvy. But Cotton Inc., the New York trade group of cotton producers that had threatened to leave Ogilvy said it would keep its $10-million account with the ad firm.

Re "Modern Voices Join in the Telling of an Ancient Tale," April 23: Over the years I have joined in the search for a more inclusive Haggada. I have used feminist, progressive and homemade Haggadot. I have celebrated the contributions of the midwives and sung old union songs. But somehow I still find myself reaching for the Maxwell House coffee Haggada of my youth. Lisa Palley Los Angeles