Long known as a product of Belgium, premium beer brand Stella Artois will soon lose its “import” status and be manufactured in the United States, as parent company Anheuser-Busch rolls out a major $1 billion, two-year domestic investment across its portfolio that’s aimed at stimulating the American economy.
Under the terms of the arrangement, Stella’s bottling will first shift to St. Louis this summer with cans and draught production transitioning before the end of 2021. Four existing Anheuser-Busch breweries are slated for long-term upgrades to handle the increase in volume, with facilities in Los Angeles, Newark and Jacksonville, Fla., joining the company’s St. Louis flagship in taking on the brand’s manufacture.
In addition, AB is set to invest a further $296 million in Stella’s domestic distribution over the next two years.
“Throughout the pandemic, our advanced planning and proactive actions have put our U.S. supply chain in a strong position; however, we are subject to the instability of the international supply chain when it comes to some of our imports,” says Brendan Whitworth, AB’s chief sales officer in the U.S.
The large-scale investment in Stella will “help create and sustain jobs” across the country, Whitworth adds, while cutting more than 7,000 metric tons of carbon emissions from the atmosphere annually, which is in line with the company’s 2025 Sustainability Goals.