Westrock Coffee has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to become the go-to producer of ready-to-drink coffee in the US. After successive years of heavy losses, 2026 will show if its big bet has paid off
It’s been more than three years since Westrock Coffee embarked on the most ambitious project in its 17-year history. It has also been its most costly.
In November 2022, Westrock Coffee broke ground on a new 524,000sq ft production site in Conway, Arkansas – reportedly the largest roast to ready-to-drink (RTD) manufacturing facility in the world.
The site began limited operations in June 2024 and was joined by a new single-serve coffee manufacturing facility 12 months later, as Westrock sought to position itself at the centre of US coffee innovation.
However, the $360m investment has weighed heavily on Westrock’s balance sheet. Investing in scaled RTD production early was undoubtedly a smart move – by some forecasts, the US RTD coffee market will be worth more than $40bn by 2030.
But it has also evolved and become more competitive in the three years since Westrock broke ground on its landmark production facility.
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