The company behind the Keurig single-cup coffee system plans to open a manufacturing facility in Douglas County for a new cold-brewed beverage system in a move that will create about 550 jobs, Gov. Nathan Deal said Thursday.
Keurig Green Mountain will make its new at-home cold drink brewing system at a new plant in Lithia Springs, about 20 miles west of downtown Atlanta. The new device is designed to make cold drinks including Coca-Cola products, and will be a competitor to beverage makers such as Sodastream.
Atlanta-based Coke, the world's largest non-alcoholic beverage maker, is a minority investor in Keurig and and has the option to increase its stake in the company to 16 percent. The partnership, announced in February, included plans to build the new in-home brewing system as a way to help create a new sales category for Coke.
In March, the AJC reported that Keurig held a job fair in Atlanta for a new factory, and the company was scouting for a site in the Southeast.
Keurig is expected to invest $337 million in the plant, the state said.
“Keurig Cold is an exciting new multi-brand platform for our company, and ensuring beverage pod production capacity and efficiency are key to its success,” Keurig’s President and CEO Brian Kelley said in a news release.
Read more about this project later Thursday at our premium website for subscribers, www.MyAJC.com, or in Friday's print edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
