Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Employee Stock Ownership Plan)

12 Months Ended

Sep. 29, 2012

Employee Stock Ownership Plan

Employee Stock Ownership Plan

Share-based Compensation Disclosures

17.Employee Stock Ownership Plan

The Company maintained an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (the “ESOP”), which terminated at the end of the 2010 calendar year.  The ESOP is qualified under sections 401(a) and 4975(e) (7) of the Internal Revenue Code.  All employees of the Company (not including its Keurig subsidiary prior to 2009) with one year or more of service who were at least twenty-one years of age were eligible to participate in the Plan, in accordance with the terms of the Plan.  The Company would, at its discretion, contribute shares of Company stock or cash that was used to purchase shares of Company stock.  Company contributions were credited to eligible participants’ accounts pro-rata based on their compensation.  Plan participants became vested in their Plan benefits ratably over four years from the date of hire of the employee.

The Company recorded no compensation costs for fiscal years 2012 and 2011.  In fiscal 2010, the Company recorded compensation costs of $1.4 million to accrue for anticipated stock distributions under the ESOP.

There were no unearned shares remaining in the ESOP at September 29, 2012 and September 24, 2011.

After the close of 2010 calendar year, 38,060 shares were transferred from the unallocated ESOP pool of shares and allocated to participants’ accounts.