Family-owned Milo's Tea expands US operations
Alabama-based beverage company is backed by Walmart
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Major corporations aren't the only ones promising to increase domestic manufacturing in 2025 – smaller businesses are also boosting operations on U.S. soil.
Milo's Tea Company, an American beverage company backed by Walmart, opened a new $200 million manufacturing and distribution facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Tuesday. This marked its fourth facility.
The family-owned, women-led business headquartered in Alabama, has produced and sold iced tea and lemonade since 1946, the year it was founded by Milo and Bea Carlton. The company was established after Milo Carlton completed his service in World War II.
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While Milo's Tea started as a small business with one plant in Bessemer, Alabama, it's been rapidly expanding to keep pace with customer demand. The company's first plant opened in Alabama in 2002, but it quickly outgrew the facility.
"Because of our explosive growth over the last decade, we realized that we needed another site," Milo's Tea Company CEO Tricia Wallwork told FOX Business. The company began a multiyear site selection journey and expanded to its second facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in early 2020. The company doubled capacity at the facility and tripled the number of jobs.
Milo's Tea Company recently opened a manufacturing plant in South Carolina. (Milos Tea Company)
The company expanded operations again in 2021 when it acquired a then-shuttered dairy facility.
Over the past 13 years, the company has grown from 50 employees to nearly 1,000. Today, the company's 26 products are available in more than 55,000 retail locations nationwide, including about 4,200 Walmart stores.
When its South Carolina facility is fully operational, it will employ more than 200 workers. This facility is part of Walmart’s $350 billion commitment, announced in 2021, to invest in products that are made, grown or assembled in the U.S. over a 10-year period.
POWERFUL MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATION PENS REGULATION REBALANCING PLAN FOR TRUMP ADMIN
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMT | WALMART INC. | 95.77 | +0.83 | +0.87% |
The investment represents Walmart’s second multibillion-dollar pledge to support American jobs through domestic sourcing. In 2013, the company committed $250 billion through its U.S. manufacturing initiative.
Each year, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner said the retailer hosts an event called Open Call, which is one of several key efforts the company makes to connect with potential suppliers to invest in U.S. products.
A Walmart Supercenter in Burbank, California. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
"What we're always looking for is where the customer is going, where the market is going and how we can help those two things to meet together and she [Tricia Wallwork] is an example of several others who came to Open Call or met a buyer" to get their start, Furner told FOX Business.
In fiscal year 2024, more than two-thirds of Walmart U.S.'s total product spend was on items suppliers reported were made, grown or assembled in the U.S. The retailer still relies on global procurement because there are specific goods only created in other parts of the world.
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"What we're always trying to do is keep prices as low as possible. And we do that with efficiency. We do that by working with suppliers in the best way to distribute products. And then, we're looking for partners that we can grow with," Furner said.