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How a third-generation CEO turns her family's sweet tea into $1.7B beverage empire - VnExpress International The most read Vietnamese newspaper Follow us on Edition: International | Vietnamese Home News Politics Education Environment Traffic Crime Brainteaser Business DataSpeaks Property Billionaires Markets Companies Economy Money Quiz Tech Tech news Enterprises Personalities Vietnam innovation Challenge hub Travel Places Food Guide Visa Puzzle Life Trend Arts Celebrities Vogue Love Wellness Sports Football Boxing Marathon Tennis Golf Other sports Trivia World Perspectives Readers' Views VnE-GO Premium Contact Us © Copyright 1997 VnExpress.net. All rights reserved. Go Business DataSpeaks Property Billionaires Companies Markets Economy Money Quiz Copy link Most Read 1. Travelers stranded at Changi Airport with $12 and no way home after Middle East airspace shutdown 2. Gold prices drop 3. Vietnam tourism struggles to prevent overcharging of tourists 4. 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Milo’s became America’s top-selling refrigerated tea brand in 2025 while its gallon jug of signature sweet tea ranked as the top ready-to-drink tea across U.S. retailers, according to Nielsen IQ. The company also leads the liquid tea category by dollar sales, and its lemonade line is now the fastest-growing in the country.Its products are available in about 60,000 stores across the country, including 4,200 Walmart locations from Alaska to Hawaii.The business could fetch $1.7 billion based on its profitability, according to estimates by Forbes."Today we’re a tea and lemonade company, but it didn’t start that way," Wallwork told Today in an interview last year. "There actually was a guy named Milo, and he was my granddad."Milo Carlton and his wife, Bea, founded the firm in 1946 as a burger restaurant in Alabama after he returned from serving in World War II.The business ran on a simple philosophy: use high-quality, natural ingredients, pay attention to customers, and never compromise on taste, according to the company. Tricia Wallwork is the granddaughter of Milo's founders. Photo from the company's website Wallwork’s father Ronnie joined the business in the 1980s, around the time the family pushed to franchise their burger counter. With some 20 locations across Alabama, they personally delivered their trademark sauce and sweet tea to the franchises.As more diners began ordering the drink to take home, the family spotted an opportunity and started selling the tea to neighborhood grocers and local markets in 1989. They opted for gallon-sized jugs, which Wallwork said were designed to "signal to the consumer that they needed to treat it like milk because it contained no preservatives."Their restaurant chain was sold in 2002 for under $10 million. The family kept the tea business that the buyer did not want."I was never going to join the family business," Wallwork told Forbes of her early view of the company.As a teenager, she spent summers working at her family’s sweet tea plant before heading to Auburn University. She later earned degrees in philosophy and Spanish, then went on to law school at the University of Alabama.But after several years at a law firm, she grew dissatisfied and returned to Milo’s in 2004 as its general counsel and vice president.Wallwork eventually concluded that the beverage industry was where she belonged. She approached the family’s other shareholders about becoming CEO and formally assumed the role in 2012. Tricia Wallwork, CEO of Milo's Tea Company. Photo from Consumer Brands Association's website Under her leadership, Milo’s widened its reach at Walmart while securing deals with major chains and posting record sales."Sell, sell, sell. I was like, ‘How can I get in front of the customer?’" Wallwork said of her approach.She has also steered the brand into new areas even when it was still small in scale and operating with a limited marketing budget.Milo’s introduced lemonade in 2014, placing it alongside its sweet tea in stores where the company already had a loyal following. It quickly caught on with customers drawn to the brand’s focus on simple, real ingredients.The lineup has since grown to include Strawberry Lemonade, Raspberry Lemonade and Lemon Sweet Tea, with a zero-sugar lemonade slated for release in the first quarter of 2026.Over the years, the company has added two plants and grown its workforce from 40 employees when Wallwork first took the helm to more than 1,000 today.Milo’s expects to surpass $1 billion in retail sales in 2026, reaching the milestone a full year earlier than originally forecast. That momentum has drawn interest from beverage giants and private equity investors eager to acquire the company.Wallwork, however, has no intention of selling and wants to keep the business within the family."People reach out all the time, but our family has just made the decision that we want this to be a multi-generational family business," she told Food Dive. "We can solve more things in the world when we look in terms of not three to five years or a quarter, and [instead] we can look in terms of generations." Comments (0) Latest first | Highest rated Latest firstHighest rated View more 20/1000 Tắt chia sẻ Log out 0/1000