Walmart to open proprietary milk processing facility

Walmart is bolstering its capacity to meet consumer demand for milk.

The discount chain is breaking ground later this year on an owned and operated milk processing facility in Valdosta, Ga. The new plant, which Walmart expects to create nearly 400 local jobs, is intended to increase the retailer’s supply chain resiliency while building more transparency around sourcing.

Using ingredients sourced from local farmers, the facility will process and bottle a variety of milk options including gallon, half gallon, whole, 2%, 1%, skim and 1% chocolate milk for Walmart’s Great Value and Sam’s Club’s Member’s Mark brands.

The products from the facility will serve more than 750 Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations in the Southeast. Walmart opened its first milk processing plant in Fort Wayne, Ind. in 2018.

“Once opened, our milk processing facility in Valdosta will be an important milestone to delivering on our commitment to provide customers access to the high-quality milk they expect at the everyday low prices they rely on,” Bruce Heckman, VP, manufacturing, private brands and Tyler Lehr, senior VP, merchandising, chilled, adult beverage and convenience, Walmart, said in a corporate blog post.

Walmart bulks up internal food supply chain

The planned Georgia milk facility is Walmart’s latest effort to create in-house capability for manufacturing and distributing food products. The company has already released plans for opening its first owned and operated case-ready beef facility in 2025.

Walmart says the new facility in Olathe, Kan. will offer greater visibility into its supply chain, bolstering its capacity to fulfill demand for quality beef. Once opened, Walmart’s new facility in Kansas will package and distribute a selection of Angus cuts from Sustainable Beef LLC in North Platte, Neb., to serve its stores across the Midwest. The retailer made a minority investment in Sustainable Beef, a rancher-owned company based in North Platte, Neb., in 2022.

Walmart’s investment is intended to help Sustainable Beef open a beef processing facility in North Platte, Neb. The facility is expected to break ground in September 2023 and open by late 2024, creating more than 800 new jobs.

Walmart has been powering up its proprietary, end-to-end Angus beef supply chain during the past several years. In June 2021, the discount giant introduced McClaren Farms beef in nearly 500 stores across five Southeastern states - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina.

McClaren Farms was Walmart’s first official release from its end-to-end Angus beef supply chain program it initiated in 2019. 

In addition, Walmart made a minority investment in Plenty, an indoor vertical farming company, as part of  a $400 million Series E funding round in 2022.  As part of a long-term commercial agreement, Walmart will source Plenty’s leafy greens for its 250 California stores from Plenty’s Compton (Calif.) farm.

Together, Walmart and Plenty said they will work collaboratively to create a new, market-leading product category in vertical farming by delivering the freshness and quality that Walmart customers expect, year-round.