America's love affair with coffee is causing a well-known food and beverage company to invest millions to expand plastic bottle manufacturing in Florida.
Danone North America, a unit of Paris-based Danone, plans to spend up to $65 million during the next two years for a new bottle production line in Jacksonville, Fla. The expansion will create PET bottles for coffee creamers and ready-to-drink coffee.
Danone North America expects to create 40 jobs to go along with the 110 people already working in Jacksonville, the company said.
"This investment will allow us to better serve our customers and operate our business in an even more efficient and sustainable way," Mike Sloboda, Danone North America's chief operations officer, said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for Danone North America confirmed the facility will be making PET bottles but did not respond to follow-up questions prior to publication of this story.
"This multimillion-dollar investment will increase production of several of Danone's coffee and creamer brands in the U.S., including International Delight, Silk and SToK. It also serves to meet consumer demand in these categories while supporting the company's sustainability goal by reducing overall water consumption, decreasing carbon emissions and accelerating the company's goal of packaging circularity," Danone North America said in announcing the facility.
Danone, which registers about a quarter of its sales from North America, is a global company well known for yogurt brands including Activia, Danone and Danimals. The company also owns several water brands, including Evian. Other company brands are Horizon Organic, Oikos and So Delicious.
Danone North America has more than 6,000 workers at 16 production facilities in the United States and Canada.
"The investment will support Danone North America's long-term growth strategy and will deliver key benefits across the U.S. business, including advancing operational excellence, enabling flexibility in bottle design, accelerating the company's sustainability goals and driving cost efficiencies," the company said.