An artist's impression of Nestlé's new 630,000sq ft production facility in Glendale, Arizona, USA | Photo credit: Nestlé

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Nestlé has announced a major $675m investment to build a new production facility in Arizona, USA. Based near the city of Glendale, the 630,000sq ft facility will produce Coffee Mate creamers and Starbucks-branded coffee products for the US market when it becomes operational in 2024.
 
According to Nestlé, Arizona provides the ‘ideal environment’ for its US operations due to its proximity to customers in the western US, which will reduce transport timelines and emissions.
 
The new facility, which is anticipated to create 350 jobs when operational, joins Nestlé’s network of 14 existing food and beverage factories across the country. It will also be the Swiss firm’s ‘most advanced’ factory and distribution centre, utilising digital tools to meet changes in consumer demand.
 
“Beverages play an increasingly important role in the lives of consumers, a trend that’s been accelerated by the pandemic and is expected to continue to grow. This investment illustrates our continued commitment to leading and growing categories where we play, providing consumers with a variety of high-quality, innovative products to meet their needs,” said Daniel Jhung, President of Beverage, Nestlé USA.
 
Nestlé also said the facility would be built with sustainability at the ‘forefront’ and would include a water recycling process, produce fully recyclable product packaging, and target the use of 100% renewable energy by 2025.
 
Data from Nestlé’s 2021 annual report shows of sales of Starbucks-branded products grew by 17.1% to reach $3.3bn over the year. The US investment follows a $290m upgrade to the company’s Romont production facility in Switzerland to add additional capacity for its Nespresso Vertuo and Nestlé Professional coffee ranges.
 
Nestlé is not the only major coffee company upgrading its US production capacity. In December 2021, Westrock Coffee said it had finalised the purchase of a new 524,000sq ft facility in Conway, Akansas, that will increase the company’s capacity to develop, produce and distribute coffee, tea, RTD products and single serve coffee cups.
 
The US coffee roaster is also expanding its Commercial Park location in Concord, North Carolina to expand coffee and tea production by 50% amid ‘soaring’ demand.