Mark Anthony Brands — the maker of White Claw and Mike’s Hard Lemonade — plans to build a $400 million production facility in Columbia, South Carolina, according to a press release posted on Tuesday to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s website.
McMaster celebrated the news on social media: “Welcome to South Carolina! We’re open for business. All Day. Every Day. #TeamSC.”
The South Carolina production facility would be the third the company has built in the last two years in an effort to finally meet consumer demand.
Why It Matters: A lot of White Claw will be coming to the market to finally meet that demand from consumers, which has caused out of stocks in stores and allocations with distributors.
Mark Anthony Brands president Phil Rosse told the company’s wholesalers last week that the company’s previous capital projects are now operational, including an expansion at the Cold Spring co-packing facility, which includes a dedicated White Claw high speed canning line, and new production facilities in New Jersey and Arizona.
“We are extremely excited to be in position to finally supply the market in full in 2021 and unleash our rich innovation agenda, which has been the backbone of our organization since Mike’s Hard Lemonade first launched back on April 1, 1999,” he said.
Those efforts combined should help fill the gap.
The Details: Construction on the nearly 1 million sq. ft. plant located in Columbia’s Pineview Industrial Park will “begin almost immediately” with the goal of being operational by summer 2021, according to the state of South Carolina.
- The new facility is expected to create 300 jobs.
- The plant will produce White Claw hard seltzer, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Mike’s Harder and Cayman Jack cocktails.
- The facility will also include warehousing and distribution operations.
- The project has been approved for job development credits by the Coordinating Council for Economic Development, as well as a $4.6 million set-aside grant to Richland County for infrastructure improvements and a $1.5 million LocateSC grant.
The Big Picture: Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw is the top-selling hard seltzer brand in the more than $3.6 billion hard seltzer segment, according to market research firm Nielsen.
Year-to-date through early October, the White Claw brand family has posted nearly $1.6 billion in off-premise sales, up 166.5% compared to the same period last year, according to market research firm IRI.
The White Claw brand family is currently the sixth largest brand family in the entire beer category, with plans to scale the rankings with a slate of innovations hitting in 2021, including Mike’s Hard Seltzer Lemonade, White Claw Hard Seltzer Iced Tea and a White Claw variety 24-pack.
Even as the nation faces a shortage of aluminum cans — especially 12 oz. sleek/slim cans, the preferred container of hard seltzer brands — over the next 24 to 36 months, Mark Anthony appears to be positioning itself for the future, securing six billion cans for 2021, according to an analysis by Credit Suisse. Still, the six billion cans is about 50 million cases short of the brand’s stated 300 million case capacity, the firm reported.