The invention proposes a modular method of manufacturing a set of beverage production machines with different beverage-related functions. The beverage production machines are designed for producing a beverage on the basis of pre-portioned ingredient packages. The method comprises the step of : providing a plurality of identical core units (2,2A,2B), the core units being provided with control circuitry (23) and a beverage production module (11) for housing an ingredient package and feeding a liquid to the interior of the ingredient package, providing a plurality of different base platforms (1,3,4), the base platforms differing as to beverage production functions, and manufacturing a set of different beverage production machines by mounting respectively at least one of the core units on thetop surface of one out of the plurality of differing base platforms and by mounting water reservoirs (7) on the base platforms.