Anheuser-Busch Will Invest $21 Million in Southern California Facilities

Anheuser-Busch said Thursday that it will invest $21 million in its Los Angeles and Mira Loma, California, facilities to expand production, upgrade packaging lines and logistics, and add a new technical training center for workers at its brewery in Van Nuys.

The company said the money will be used to increase output of Michelob ULTRA and Cutwater products in Southern California while modernizing canning and bottling operations. It also said the project will add rail capacity, a move aimed at improving transportation and distribution from the sites.

The investment is part of Anheuser-Busch’s broader plan to put $600 million into its U.S. operations across 2025 and 2026 under what the company calls its Brewing Futures initiative. The brewer said the program is intended to support manufacturing jobs, upgrade facilities and expand workforce training.

A central part of the Southern California project is a new technical skills training center inside the Los Angeles Brewery. Anheuser-Busch said the site will be one of 15 such centers it plans to open nationwide and will focus on electrical and mechanical systems tied to brewery equipment. The company said it plans to upskill more than 90% of its U.S. manufacturing workforce over the next five years.

The company framed the California investment as a way to strengthen production of some of its fastest-growing brands. In its announcement, Anheuser-Busch said the spending would help increase output of Michelob ULTRA, which it described, citing Circana sales data, as the top-selling and fastest-growing beer in the country. It also said the project would support Cutwater, which it described as the top spirits-based cocktail brand in the U.S., as well as Phorm Energy.

For the beverage industry, the spending is notable beyond one company’s local expansion. New canning and bottling capacity, along with upgraded rail shipping and technical training, can affect how quickly beer and ready-to-drink alcohol products move through the supply chain. If the project performs as planned, it could help ease packaging and logistics pressure in a key West Coast market and give Anheuser-Busch more flexibility in production planning and labor development, two issues that remain important across the broader drinks business.

The Los Angeles brewery has operated for more than 70 years and remains one of the company’s major production sites on the West Coast. Anheuser-Busch said it has invested $184 million in its Los Angeles and Mira Loma facilities since 2021. The company also said hundreds of Californians work at the sites and that the Los Angeles brewery produces more than 50 Anheuser-Busch brands.

Public officials from the region welcomed the announcement and tied it to jobs and local manufacturing. U.S. Rep. Luz Rivas, whose district includes part of the San Fernando Valley, said the investment and training expansion would help create and sustain jobs in Southern California. State Sen. Caroline Menjivar said the Van Nuys brewery has been an important employer in the area since 1954 and said the added spending would expand opportunities for workers to move into stable manufacturing careers. Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel said the project would strengthen the state’s manufacturing base and support workers and the local economy.

Anheuser-Busch has recently emphasized domestic capital spending as it seeks to expand output in beer, spirits-based ready-to-drink products and related categories. The California announcement shows how that strategy is being applied at the plant level, with spending spread across production equipment, packaging operations, transport infrastructure and workforce training rather than limited to a single line or brand.

The company’s product mix in the announcement also reflects the way large beverage suppliers are balancing traditional beer with faster-growing adjacent categories. By pairing Michelob ULTRA with Cutwater and Phorm Energy in the same investment plan, Anheuser-Busch is signaling that it sees value in using existing manufacturing and logistics networks to support several beverage segments from the same regional base.

The Los Angeles and Mira Loma investment comes as major producers continue to assess where to place new capacity and how to secure skilled labor for increasingly automated plants. In that context, the training center may prove as important as the equipment upgrades. Breweries and packaged beverage plants depend on technicians who can maintain electrical and mechanical systems, and companies across the sector have faced pressure to recruit and retain those workers.

Anheuser-Busch did not provide a detailed timeline in the announcement for when the full California investment will be completed. It said the project is meant to strengthen operations in Southern California while supporting jobs and local economic activity.