Milo’s opening $130M plant in SC to brew and bottle tea. Here are the details

Southern Living says Milo’s Tea has a cult-like following. At least in its home state of Alabama.

Now South Carolina has a piece of the action with Milo’s decision to open a $130 million brewing and bottling plant in Spartanburg County.

The facility will employ 103 people.

Milo’s was established in Alabama as a restaurant in 1946 by Milo and Bea Carlton after Milo came home from World War II.

“Milo’s philosophy was simple: use high quality, natural ingredients, listen to your customers, and never sacrifice taste,” the company’s website says.

Forty years later, their children realized the star of their business was their three-ingredient tea — water, tea and cane sugar. They spun off the tea making business, which remains in the family, headed by granddaughter, Tricia Wallwork.

She said in a news release the company spent many years looking for a site for a 110.000-square foot facility before choosing 48 acres at the corner of U.S. highways 290 and 221 in Moore.

The company also has manufacturing facilities in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area and Bessemer and Homewood, Alabama. Its headquarters is in Bessemer, Alabama.

“South Carolina was the optimal location to efficiently serve our customers up and down the East Coast,” Wallwork said in a news release.

“Milo’s Sweet Tea has garnered a following so committed and so widespread (and maybe so addicted?) that the name has become synonymous with sweet tea itself in some parts. In Alabama, at least, the tea has an almost cult-like devotion,” Southern Living said. “What began as a single burger joint, then a burger chain, then a mom-and-pop sweet tea business, has now reached nationwide distribution while somehow keeping its small-town charm.”

Milo’s tag line is “brewed like you do so you don’t have to.”

In 2022, Milo’s sales doubled year over year to $400 million, the company reported.

The company expects to open in Moore by the end of 2024. The company has a careers page for applicants.

“Every time a popular, established brand brings operations to Spartanburg County, it grows our presence in the region and the country, and just goes to further prove how good a place Spartanburg County is to do business,” Spartanburg County Councilman and Economic Development Committee Chairman David Britt said in the news release.