Alabama-based Milo’s Tea Company is constructing a new $130 million manufacturing and production facility in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, its fourth plant in the U.S.
The announcement yesterday comes after the 75-year-old family-owned company, which spun off from the Milo restaurant chain as an independent company in 2002, quietly became the fourth largest iced tea maker in the U.S. earlier this year after hitting $400 million in sales.
Following a multi-year selection process, the company landed on a 48-acre campus located at the corner of U.S. Highway 290 and U.S. Highway 221 in Moore, South Carolina. The investment in the new 110,000 square-foot facility is a “direct response to the growth of Milo’s brand,” according to a press release.
To ensure the water quality of the region could match the brand’s consistent taste, multiple tanker trucks of the water were sent to the brand’s Bessemer facility to validate flavor consistency.
“South Carolina was the optimal location to efficiently serve our customers up and down the east coast. Like our selection journey for our Oklahoma facility, we immediately felt at home in the Spartanburg area,” said Tricia Wallwork, Milo’s CEO and granddaughter of founders Milo and Bea.
Making significant gains in the face of the pandemic, Milo’s has been steadily building up its production capacity and expanding its consumer base. In 2020, the company spent a reported $60 million to build a second facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma and in 2021, it invested another $20 million to expand the existing 105,000-square-foot facility by an additional 3,000 sq. feet. As of September, the company was also planning another $100 million expansion of its existing facility near Birmingham.
According to Milo’s director of business development Alison Jennings, the goal for the newest facility is to have four lines at the same time of start that will fill up gallon, mid-size and single bottles. Though the company could not disclose exact production numbers, Jennings said Milo’s hopes to produce upwards of half a million bottles per day.
As part of the company’s commitment to offering a “living wage” for its workers, the new South Carolina facility will allegedly bring more than 100 jobs to the area. During a consumer brands webinar in 2021, Wallwork said the company is also dedicated to covering 100% of health care.
“South Carolina and Spartanburg County in particular proved to be the right ecosystem to help us advance our People First culture by offering an excellent standard of living for our associates and robust workforce development resources to drive economic prosperity,” said Wallwork in Tuesday’s release.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster added, “South Carolina’s beverage industry continues to expand because of the addition of leading businesses such as Milo’s. Their investment and the creation of new jobs will greatly enhance the Spartanburg community and the state.”
The move to South Carolina supports the company’s goal of expanding the production of all-natural teas and other beverages – over the past few years, Milo’s has expanded to offer lemonade and a range of unsweetened and zero-calorie teas. According to the release, the company plans to add additional lines of production over the coming years.
Milo’s is slated to break ground on the new production plant by March 2023 and start production of its tea and lemonade products in fall 2024.