Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages’ planned $168 million North Texas expansion just became, in the parlance of the soft drink’s longtime slogan, the real thing.
By Bob Francis | Fort Worth Report | April 21, 2025
The third-largest bottler of Coca-Cola in the U.S. filed construction plans April 17 for a $74.9 million renovation and expansion, a part of of the $168 million update, of its warehouse and production facilities at 3400 Fossil Creek Blvd. in Fort Worth.
Sean McElhenny, plant manager for the company, said the total investment would be $168 million.
“As North Texas continues to grow,” he said, “we want to be prepared to support that growth.”
Arca Continental first announced the expansion plans in April 2024. The current warehouse at Fossil Creek is 150,000 square feet and will be expanded to 400,000 square feet and see the addition of two new production lines. Lamar Johnson Collaborative of Berkeley, Missouri, is the architect.
“In 2023 and 2024, Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages grew both volume and share, the only Coca-Cola bottler in the U.S. to achieve this,’’ said McElhenny.
No additional employment is expected as a result from the additional warehouse space and production line, McElhenny said.
Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages currently employs almost 900 people at its plant in Fort Worth and almost 1,800 across North Texas.
Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages is part of publicly traded Mexico holding company Arca Continental. From 2022 to 2023, Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest placed regional ads during the Super Bowl, with two of those ads focused on recruiting new employees, while the 2024 30-second spot promoted community engagement.
Arca Continental is not the only bottler making investments in Fort Worth.
DrinkPAK, a leading contract manufacturer of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, is investing more than $200 million at a 1.4 million-square-foot facility at Carter Park East in south Fort Worth.
The facility is expected to open in September and will manufacture energy drinks, teas, sodas, waters, hard seltzers, beer, wine and spirits in most can sizes and packing formats. The filling and packaging equipment from Krones AG will produce up to 2,600 cans perminute and feature dual filler production lines.
Fort Worth Report | Editor’s note: The story has been updated to make the amount of investment clear.
Content retrieved from: https://fortworthreport.org/2025/04/21/coca-cola-bottler-begins-nearly-75m-fort-worth-plant-upgrade-expansion/.
