Milo's Tea Company, Inc.

What Milo's Tea Company, Inc. does

Milo's Tea Company, Inc. is a fourth-generation, family-owned beverage manufacturer founded in 1946 by Milo and Bea Carlton in Alabama, specializing in refrigerated ready-to-drink teas, lemonades, and fruit punch. All products are formulated with natural ingredients, no preservatives, and no artificial colors, requiring continuous cold-chain handling from daily-brewed production through refrigerated retail display. The core product line spans sweet, unsweet, zero-sugar, and flavored teas, traditional and fruit-infused lemonades, fruit punch, and seasonal limited editions. Manufacturing is conducted at facilities in Bessemer, Alabama (headquarters), Owasso, Oklahoma (Tulsa area), and Moore, South Carolina, with a $200M investment in the South Carolina plant reflecting significant recent capacity expansion. Milo's holds Certified Women-Owned and Platinum-Certified TRUE Zero Waste Manufacturer designations.

The company's go-to-market is a traditional consumer-packaged-goods retail model: Milo's sells one-time packaged beverage SKUs (20oz bottles, half gallons, gallons) to major grocery and convenience chains, with end-consumer pricing set by individual retailers. Distribution spans 60,000+ retail locations across national chains including Walmart, Target, Kroger, Publix, Albertson's, Meijer, Harris Teeter, and Dollar General, supported by a consumer-driven "Request Milo's For Your Store" program and a store-locator tool. Marketing emphasizes brand heritage, family ownership, and fan community via #MilosMoments user-generated content, the Milo's Jug Club loyalty program, recipe content marketing, and broad social media presence across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Strategically, Milo's is in an active growth and diversification phase: the 2025 South Carolina plant, the September 2024 Altium Packaging on-site bottle-blowing partnership (verticalizing primary packaging), the January 2026 Fruit Punch/Zero Sugar/Blackberry Sweet Tea product launches, and the appointment of a new CFO all point to a company positioning for materially larger scale, with a stated target of $1B in retail sales by 2027. The company remains privately held with no external equity or strategic ownership disclosed in the available data.

Name

Milo's Tea Company, Inc.

Legal name

Milo's Tea Company, Inc.

Website

https://drinkmilos.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1946

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Milo's Tea Company is a fourth-generation, family-owned manufacturer of refrigerated ready-to-drink teas, lemonades, and fruit punch, distributing natural, no-preservative products across 60,000+ U.S. grocery and convenience retail locations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Refrigerated Ready-to-Drink Beverages

NAICS

Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (311920)

SIC

Beverages (2080)

akta.pro primary industry

RTD Iced Tea Production (AFAFABAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Non-Carbonated Soft Drinks (Juice Drinks, Lemonades, Fruit Drinks) (CRADAHAB)

Keywords

• Iced tea beverages
• Refrigerated lemonades
• Natural tea products
• Ready-to-drink tea
• Fruit punch beverages

Headquarters

HQ city

Bessemer

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Beverage Product Sales: Milo's generates revenue through the sale of ready-to-drink teas and lemonades to consumers via retail grocery and convenience stores. Products are sold in various sizes including 20oz bottles, half gallons, and gallons.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Milo's Tea Company manufactures and distributes a portfolio of refrigerated, ready-to-drink iced teas, lemonades, and fruit punch sold through grocery and convenience retailers across the United States. All products are 100% natural with no preservatives or artificial colors, requiring refrigeration and daily fresh brewing, and are available in sizes including 20oz bottles, half gallons, and gallons.

Product overview

Milo's Tea Company is a family-owned beverage company offering a portfolio of refrigerated iced teas and lemonades. The core product line includes sweet teas (Famous Sweet Tea, Extra Sweet Tea, Zero Sugar Sweet Tea, Unsweet Tea, Lemon Sweet Tea, Sweet Tea and Lemonade), lemonades (Famous Lemonade, Zero Sugar Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, Raspberry Lemonade), and fruit punch. The company also releases limited edition seasonal variants such as Peach Sweet Tea and Blackberry Sweet Tea. All products are 100% natural with no preservatives or artificial colors, and must be refrigerated. Products are distributed through major retail grocery stores nationwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Milo's Famous Sweet Tea Flagship sweet iced tea made with high-quality natural ingredients and no preservatives, sold in refrigerated multi-size packages to retail consumers.
• Milo's Extra Sweet Tea Sweeter variant of the flagship sweet tea for consumers who prefer a higher sweetness level, sold refrigerated at retail.
• Milo's Zero Sugar Sweet Tea Zero-sugar sweet tea providing the same taste as the flagship with no added sugar, sold refrigerated at retail.
• Milo's Famous Unsweet Tea Unsweetened black iced tea made with natural ingredients and no preservatives, sold refrigerated at retail.
• Milo's Lemon Sweet Tea Sweet iced tea infused with lemon flavor, sold refrigerated at retail.
• Milo's Sweet Tea and Lemonade Combination of sweet tea and lemonade in an Arnold Palmer-style blend, sold refrigerated at retail.
• Milo's Famous Lemonade Traditional lemonade made with high-quality ingredients and no preservatives, sold refrigerated at retail.
• Milo's Zero Sugar Lemonade Zero-sugar version of the flagship lemonade, sold refrigerated at retail.
• Milo's Strawberry Lemonade Lemonade infused with strawberry flavor, sold refrigerated at retail.
• Milo's Raspberry Lemonade Lemonade infused with raspberry flavor, sold refrigerated at retail.
• Milo's Fruit Punch Fruit punch beverage marking Milo's entry into a new category, made with natural ingredients and no preservatives and sold refrigerated at retail.
• Milo's Peach Sweet Tea Limited edition seasonal sweet iced tea with sun-ripened peach flavor, sold refrigerated at retail.
• Limited Edition Blackberry Sweet Tea Limited edition sweet iced tea with blackberry flavor, launched as part of the 2026 product expansion.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 60,000 retail locations
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Altium Packaging LLCcoreTechnology or Integration · 10 September 2024Milo's partnered with Altium Packaging LLC to open a new on-site bottle blowing facility at one of their manufacturing locations. This partnership enables in-house bottle production, reducing supply chain dependencies and transportation costs for packaging.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• AriZona Beverage Company: AriZona is a closely-held, family-style beverage company producing RTD iced teas, lemonades, juice cocktails, and energy drinks sold in similar retail channels. Comparable to Milo's as a privately-held, non-CPG-giant RTD tea and beverage brand targeting mass grocery and convenience.
• Turkey Hill Dairy: Turkey Hill produces a refrigerated iced tea and lemonade lineup sold through grocery and convenience stores, directly overlapping Milo's core refrigerated tea/lemonade offering with similar channel mix and family-owned positioning.
• Honest Tea (The Coca-Cola Company): Honest Tea is an organic/bottled iced tea brand with a clean-label, premium positioning that mirrors Milo's natural, no-preservative story. Operating as part of Coca-Cola's portfolio, it is the closest peer in brand positioning and SKU format.
• The Republic of Tea: Republic of Tea is a specialty/premium tea company offering bagged, loose-leaf, and bottled RTD teas positioned as natural and premium — analogous to Milo's premium clean-label RTD positioning in grocery and specialty retail.
• Sweet Leaf Tea (Nestlé Waters North America): Sweet Leaf Tea produces bottled sweet tea with a natural, no-preservative recipe sold in grocery and convenience. Closely comparable to Milo's flagship sweet tea in product format, taste profile, and channel strategy.
• TAZO Tea (Starbucks / McDonald's): TAZO produces bottled RTD teas with a natural, premium positioning sold in grocery and foodservice (notably Starbucks and McDonald's). Comparable to Milo's refrigerated tea portfolio in clean-label brand positioning and multi-channel distribution.

Broad incumbents

• Gold Peak Tea (The Coca-Cola Company): Gold Peak is Coca-Cola's bottled/RTD iced tea brand sold in grocery and convenience, competing head-to-head on Milo's tea shelves at national scale and backed by Coca-Cola's DSD and marketing.
• Pure Leaf (PepsiCo): Pure Leaf, owned by PepsiCo and Lipton, is one of the leading national bottled/RTD iced tea brands in grocery and foodservice. Directly competes with Milo's for refrigerated tea shelf space with significantly larger scale and promotional support.
• Snapple (Keurig Dr Pepper): Snapple is a leading RTD iced tea and lemonade brand owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, sold across grocery, convenience, and foodservice. Overlaps Milo's on RTD tea/lemonade with broad national distribution and established consumer mind share.
• Lipton (Unilever / ekaterra): Lipton is one of the most recognized iced tea brands globally, with both bottled RTD and concentrate formats in grocery. As an incumbent tea powerhouse, it directly competes with Milo's sweet/unsweet tea SKUs at mainstream price points.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/drinkmilos
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCCg1L5bum4pT1xP1mS2-MjQ/videos
• Facebookfacebook.com/milostea
• Instagraminstagram.com/drinkmilos
• TikToktiktok.com/@drinkmilos
• Pinterestpinterest.com/drinkmilos

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Milo's Tea Company, Inc.