Buoyed by the surging popularity of ready-to-drink cocktails during the COVID-19 pandemic, global liquor producer Diageo expanded its Will County manufacturing operations Tuesday with the opening of a new canning facility.
The Plainfield manufacturing facility, Diageo Lincolnway, includes two high-speed can lines to support the growth of the company’s ready-to-drink category, officials with Diageo North America said in a news release.
The parent company of Smirnoff, Crown Royal, Guinness and other well-known brands, Diageo has invested about $110 million in the Plainfield facility, which has the capacity to produce more than 25 million cases of malt-based beverages and spirits-based ready-to-drink cocktails each year.
The new facility will support 50 full-time jobs, with Diageo’s Plainfield warehouse and bottling operation collectively employing more than 600 workers, the company said.
“The new facility strengthens our manufacturing footprint in the region and allows us to leverage synergies with our warehouse and bottling operation in Plainfield,” Michael L. Nelson Jr., Diageo North America’s senior vice president for manufacturing and distillation, said in a statement.
The ready-to-drink cocktail market across the U.S. has exploded in recent years, fueled by a soaring number of consumers choosing to dine and drink at home, especially during the early days of the pandemic, when many restaurants and bars offered only meals and alcoholic beverages to go.
Sales of ready-to-drink cocktails grew 116.2% to $723.9 million in 2021, according to market research firm NielsenIQ.
A 56-year-old partnership with the Village of Plainfield began when the Plainfield Bottling site opened in 1966, making Diageo “an integral part of Plainfield’s economic life, providing jobs and tax revenue,” Plainfield Mayor John Argoudelis said in a statement.
One of the biggest alcohol producers in the world, Diageo sells its products in more than 180 countries. The company’s brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan’s whiskeys; Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One vodkas; Casamigos, DeLeon and Don Julio tequilas; as well as Captain Morgan, Baileys, Tanqueray and Guinness.
baiduhai reporter Robert Channick contributed.