Walmart Fortifies Its Dairy Supply
Walmart has revealed its third owned and operated milk processing facility will open in 2026 in Robinson, Texas.
The facility will allow the national retailer to meet the growing demand from customers for high-quality milk while providing transparency about where its products are sourced and making the supply chain more resilient. 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 Clubs throughout the South, including locations in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and parts of Arkansas and Mississippi.
“We’re excited to be able to provide Texas and its surrounding states with high-quality milk sourced primarily from Texas dairy farmers,” said Bruce Heckman, VP of manufacturing at Walmart. “This new facility continues our commitment to building a more resilient and transparent supply chain and ensuring our customers’ needs are met for this everyday staple.”
Walmart has been working across its food offerings to deliver increased transparency about where products come from and ensuring surety of supply for grocery essentials. It opened its first milk-processing facility in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 2018, and its second facility, in Valdosta, Ga., is expected to open in 2025. Additional investments include opening its first case-ready beef facility, in Thomasville, Ga., and building a second case-ready beef facility, in Olathe, Kansas, as well as making equity investments and long-term commercial agreements with Sustainable Beef LLC and vertical-farming company Plenty.
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Meanwhile, Texas leaders are praising the retailer for its investment in local jobs – the Robinson facility will create nearly 400 new jobs for the community.
"Walmart’s new processing facility in Robinson is exciting news for Texas, creating millions in investment for the local economy and hundreds of new, good-paying jobs for hardworking Texans in Central Texas,” said Gov. Greg Abbott. “World-renowned companies like Walmart continue to choose Texas because of our unmatched business climate, lower business operating costs, and highly skilled, diverse and growing workforce."
According to Walmart, it remains dedicated to job growth and community support through its Investing in American Jobs initiative. The retailer has pledged $350 billion over a decade to invest in products made, sourced, grown or assembled in the United States.
Each week, about 255 million customers and members visit Walmart’s 10,500-plus stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 19 countries. With fiscal year 2024 revenue of $648 billion, Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart employs approximately 2.1 million associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named Walmart one of its Retailers of the Century.
