After a four-year delay, Red Bull, together with partners Ball Corp. and Rauch Fruchtsäfte, has broken ground on a new production and distribution facility in Concord, North Carolina. The site, located at The Grounds at Concord on the former Philip Morris cigarette plant property, represents an investment of about USD 1.5 billion and will create up to 700 jobs.
The 2.3 million-square-foot campus will house beverage manufacturing, filling, warehousing, and logistics operations. In addition, Ball will build an 800,000-square-foot aluminum can plant to supply Red Bull and other beverage clients. Once at full scale in 2031, the facility is expected to fill up to 3 billion cans of Red Bull Energy Drink annually. Initial operations are scheduled to begin in 2028.
This will be the second integrated U.S. manufacturing campus for Red Bull, Ball and Rauch, after their first facility in Glendale, Arizona, which began production in 2021 (inside.beer, 20.11.2019). According to the companies, the new site will primarily serve the U.S. market but can also supply other regions if needed.
The project was originally announced in 2021 with an investment of USD 740 million and about 400 jobs. Days later, Ball joined with its own USD 383.8 million investment and 220 jobs. In 2022, Cabarrus County approved larger incentive packages as Red Bull and Rauch increased their commitments to USD 424 million and USD 680 million respectively, bringing the total investment to USD 1.5 billion. Red Bull is set to receive over USD 24 million in local grants, while Rauch will receive USD 37.2 million.
A 50% aluminum tariff imposed by the Trump administration in 2025 has further encouraged beverage companies to expand domestic packaging operations. The Concord site is therefore positioned not only to meet rising U.S. demand but also to mitigate supply chain risks linked to imported packaging.
The facility will feature 170,000 pallet spaces, automated conveyor bridges linking production, co-packing and warehousing, and logistics designed to reduce carbon emissions.
Founded in the 1980s by Dietrich Mateschitz (inside.beer, 23.10.2022), Red Bull sold more than 12 billion cans worldwide in 2024 and reported net sales of USD 11.7 billion, a 6.4% increase from 2023. The global energy drink market is projected to reach USD 125 billion by 2030. While Red Bull remains the category leader, competition from Monster Beverage Corporation (Monster, Bang), Keurig Dr Pepper (Celsius) and PepsiCo (Rockstar) is intensifying as these companies expand their energy drink offerings.
