From Sweet Beginnings to Billion-Dollar Success: The Milo’s Sweet Tea Story

Tricia Wallwork’s transformation of her family’s sweet tea business stands as a remarkable American success story. When she became CEO of Milo’s 13 years ago, the company had just 40 employees and a single Alabama facility operating occasional shifts. Today, Milo’s boasts over 1,000 employees across three plants running 24/7, with projected 2025 revenue of $500 million. As the granddaughter of founder Milo Carlton, Wallwork has led the company to tenfold case volume growth and maintained an impressive 20% compound annual growth rate, making Milo’s America’s most popular refrigerated iced tea brand. What makes this achievement particularly noteworthy is that Milo’s uses pure cane sugar (26 grams per serving) rather than artificial sweeteners, despite health-conscious trends. The company produced approximately 200 million gallons last year—enough for 2 billion servings—proving that traditional sugar consumption remains strong among American consumers.

Milo’s remarkable growth has propelled it to become the top-selling refrigerated tea brand in 2025, according to Nielsen IQ data. Its signature gallon jug of sweet tea has claimed the title of America’s number one selling ready-to-drink tea product across retailers, and it outperforms all shelf-stable brands in terms of dollars spent. The brand has expanded far beyond its Southern roots, with distribution in 60,000 retail locations, including 4,200 Walmarts reaching as far as Alaska and Hawaii. Their lemonade is currently America’s fastest-growing brand, “wildly exceeding” company projections according to Wallwork. Manufacturing operations span three states—Alabama, Oklahoma, and South Carolina—where facilities can produce an impressive 1,800 bottles per minute. The business maintains strong profitability with estimated annual EBITDA margins of 20%, and Forbes conservatively values the company at $1.7 billion, though the family has no plans to sell.

Wallwork explains the family’s commitment to long-term ownership: “We think that the challenges ahead are only solvable in generations, not in three to five year increments or quarterly earnings reports.” This philosophy extends to the company’s sustainability initiatives—Milo’s is zero-waste certified and donates 1% of profits to local education and environmental charities. With retail sales projected to hit $1 billion by year’s end (translating to approximately $750 million in annual revenue), Milo’s is achieving its goals ahead of schedule. Board member Michael Pellegrino, who also serves as Sargento’s chief operating officer, praises Wallwork’s leadership: “She’s always looking for best practices. She wants to build a world-class company. She’s a great leader who is never satisfied.”

The Milo’s story began in 1946 when Milo Carlton and his wife Bea opened a small restaurant in North Birmingham, Alabama, serving burgers, pies, and sweet tea after Milo returned from military service in World War II. The restaurant operated for forty years, with Wallwork recalling, “You either loved it or you didn’t.” In the 1980s, Wallwork’s father Ronnie and his wife Sheila joined the business, leading to its franchising in 1982. As the family supplied sweet tea to about 20 franchise locations, Sheila noticed customers frequently purchasing tea to-go, inspiring them to sell sweet tea in local markets starting in 1989. They intentionally packaged it in jugs to signal consumers should refrigerate it like milk due to its lack of preservatives. That same year, Ronnie delivered tea to Alabama’s first Walmart supercenter in Jasper. When the family eventually sold the restaurant business for less than $10 million in 2002, they retained the tea operation, which the buyer hadn’t wanted.

Despite spending high school summers working in her family’s tea plant, Wallwork initially had no intention of joining the family business. After earning degrees in philosophy and Spanish from Auburn University and attending law school at the University of Alabama, she worked at a law firm before becoming disillusioned with that career path. In 2004, at age 29, Wallwork joined Milo’s as general counsel and vice president. At that time, the operation was small—just 16 employees manually filling jugs with only two flavor options. After discovering her passion for the beverage industry, she approached her family about becoming CEO, officially taking the role in 2012. She inherited a business generating an estimated $40 million in annual revenue with 4.8 million cases of tea produced. Wallwork’s initial strategy was straightforward: “Sell, sell, sell. I was like, how can I get in front of the customer?” She expanded distribution at Walmart and secured new deals with major retailers like Publix, Kroger, and Dollar General. “Every time the company doubles, I have to triple,” Wallwork says. “I’m a very different leader than I was when I first started.”

Wallwork’s leadership has included significant reinvestment in the business, including building two new manufacturing facilities in five years. Their newest plant opened during the pandemic, perfectly timed for the company’s biggest sales growth years under her leadership. Most recently, Milo’s opened a $200 million manufacturing and distribution facility in Spartanburg County, South Carolina—a project that attracted 23,000 applicants for just 129 jobs. Melody Richard, Walmart US’s senior vice president of pantry, praises Milo’s as one of the retailer’s most reliable and innovative suppliers, calling it one of Walmart’s fastest-growing brands. Richard particularly commends Wallwork’s leadership style: “Tricia is smart and innovative and committed to excellence and to driving results. But then she’s also leading with kindness and humility and pouring into others.” Today, Milo’s produces nearly 62 million cases of tea and lemonade annually across nine flavors in three size variations. Wallwork sees continued double-digit growth ahead through core product expansion, new retail partnerships, and entry into convenience and club stores, as well as through restaurant and foodservice wholesaling. This year, Milo’s will enter a new drink category while expanding to 11 flavors, launching more seasonal options, and growing its zero-sugar line. “We’ve built a growth company and we want to keep growing,” says Wallwork. “We have our foot on the gas.”