Liquor giant Diageo is building a facility in Plainfield that will be able to crank out more than 25 million cases of ready-to-drink cocktails per year, amid a growing craze for the canned drinks.
Diageo plans to spend about $80 million on the 225,000-square-foot facility, which should be ready for production this summer, the company said. Eventually, it will employ about 50 people full-time.
Sales of ready-to-drink cocktails have gone wild during the pandemic, as people stayed out of bars and restaurants and became their own mixologists. The category has moved beyond the sugary, bottled cocktails that were once the norm and expanded to include concoctions made with premium liquor and other ingredients.
Ready-to-drink cocktail sales grew 153.4 percent to almost $349.5 million in the past year, according to market research firm Nielsen.
The popularity spike has driven big alcohol companies head first into the category. Molson Coors announced in January that it entered into a partnership to distribute a canned tequila-based beverage called Superbird, made with blue agave tequila, grapefruit juice, agave nectar and sparkling water. Constellation Brands also owns part of canned sparkling cocktail company Austin Cocktails.
Diageo’s new Plainfield facility will produce recently launched ready-to-drink whiskey cocktails from Crown Royal and vodka cocktails from Ketel One Botanicals, as well as Smirnoff seltzers—another alcohol category that continues to grow.
The new facility will have two production lines, one of which can churn out 500 cans per minute and the other 1,200 cans per minute, according to a news release. It will supplement the company’s existing ready-to-drink production capabilities throughout North America.
The London-based alcohol company already employs about 600 people in Plainfield, according to the release. It has a bottling site there that opened in 1966 and a warehouse.
The new facility will be on a different property in Plainfield. Being near those operations will give the company “the flexibility to expand and carry other market-leading brands in the future,” Perry Jones, president of North America supply for Diageo, said in the release.
Diageo’s products are sold in more than 180 countries. Its brands include Johnnie Walker, Bulleit, Casamigos, Don Julio and more. It also has an office in Chicago, which houses sales and marketing team members and others.
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