Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, announced a $22.5 million investment in its Houston brewery, which includes upgrades to the facility’s internal systems to enhance workplace safety and improve brewery efficiency. Anheuser-Busch has a long history of commitment to being a strong partner to the communities it calls home, and these upcoming local investments reflect the brewer’s dedication to delivering the highest-quality beer and other beverages to consumers while driving economic prosperity around the country.
“Investing in our people and in our communities to drive economic prosperity is part of who we are,” said Brendan Whitworth, CEO of Anheuser-Busch, in a statement. “We’re excited that this $22 million investment will improve the work environment for our frontline employees while also serving as an engine of economic growth for Houston and surrounding areas. We’re proud to reinforce our decades-long dedication to our employees and communities through continued investments in our facilities across the country.”
Anheuser-Busch has been a member of the Houston community for almost 60 years, and the brewer continues to reiterate its commitment through ongoing investments like this one. Last year, the brewer implemented water reuse technology at the Houston brewery to reclaim more than 100 million gallons of water each year. Building on this success with the addition of the most efficient cooling system will help the company continue to make great beer for all Americans to enjoy.
“The upgrade to our cooling system will enable us to stay at the forefront of brewery safety and efficiency standards,” said Ryan Hudgins, general manager at the Anheuser-Busch Houston Brewery. “By transitioning to this new system, we not only have a positive impact on employees, but also conserve resources for the local Houston community.”
The $22.5 million investment includes an upgrade to the Houston brewery's cooling system, improving workplace safety, and reducing electricity consumption by 2,180,000 kWh a year. To equip the brewery with a modern, highly efficient system, the existing cooling system will be completely removed and repositioned to ensure improved functionality. A free-standing structure also will be added to house the evaporative condensers. The Houston brewery’s new cooling system will be fully operational by Q4 2023.
This investment builds on the success of the brewer’s capital expenditure program, which included an investment of $1 billion during the course of two years in 2021 to help accelerate the nation’s recovery following the pandemic and drive economic prosperity in the communities where the brewer operates. Across the United States, Anheuser-Busch operates more than 120 facilities, including 12 flagship breweries, 14 agricultural facilities, and 19 craft partner breweries, across 24 states. In Texas, more than 1,000 people work in Anheuser-Busch’s facilities and nearly 6,000 are a part of the larger Anheuser-Busch distributor family. Anheuser-Busch’s work in Texas creates more than $1.4 billion in capital investments, significantly contributing to the state’s economic growth.
