Could Mark Anthony Brands be shuttering its first-ever owned production facility for White Claw, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Cayman Jack?
The future of Mark Anthony Brewing’s production facility in Hillside, New Jersey, is unclear as the company has filed notice that 143 workers will be affected by job cuts this fall. The eliminated roles represent the bulk of the 170-plus jobs at the site, according to the company’s website.
A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice was filed with New Jersey’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development this month, and lists September 26-November 3 as the dates the layoffs will take hold.
Mark Anthony rushed to open the brewery during hard seltzer’s pandemic-driven boom, establishing the company’s “first in-house manufacturing location within our network of manufacturing facilities,” according to its website.
The Hillside plant produced 11.7 millions cases last year and boasts 440,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space. It is by far the smallest production hub in Mark Anthony’s owned-facility network, as the company’s Columbia, South Carolina-based brewery (420-plus employees, 1.2 million sq. ft.) produced 31 million cases and the Glendale, Arizona-based facility (330-plus employees, 1 million sq. ft.) produced 31 million cases in 2024.
Prior to building out its own production network, Mark Anthony had relied on third-party contract brewing partners. It remains unclear whether the company still outsources production.
In the 52-week period (L52W) ending July 13, Mark Anthony’s volume declined 2.2%, to 73.1 million cases at off-premise retailers tracked by market research firm Circana. The company’s dollar sales were relatively flat at $3.048 billion (+0.3% year-over-year).
Mark Anthony is the fourth-largest beer category vendor by dollar sales year-to-date (YTD) through July 13, per Circana. It has three brand families among the category’s top 25:
- No. 7 White Claw, YTD dollar sales +0.3%, to $1.073 billion, volume -2.5%;
- No. 16 Mike’s Harder Lemonade, YTD dollar sales +1.7%, to $246.8 million, volume -0.5%;
- No. 24 Cayman Jack, YTD dollar sales +6.9%, to $156.4 million, volume +3.8%.
White Claw, the No. 1 hard seltzer brand, has bucked the segment’s trends as its competitors flounder. Hard seltzer dollar sales have declined 6% YTD, and Boston Beer’s Truly Hard Seltzer, the segment’s No. 2 brand, has recorded double-digit declines in dollars (-15.4%) and volume (-17.4%).
Similarly, Mike’s Harder Lemonade – an 8% ABV version that has since outpaced sales of its 5% ABV elder sibling – and Cayman Jack are besting flavored malt beverage (FMB) segment trends of -2.4% dollar sales YTD. Those brand families are the No. 3 and 4 FMB brands, respectively, behind No. 1 Boston Beer’s Twisted Tea and No. 2 Diageo’s Smirnoff Ice.
A request for comment about the future of the New Jersey facility was not returned as of press time.
Brewbound caught up with Mark Anthony president David Barnett earlier this summer on the company’s simplified focus. Catch up in these stories:
White Claw’s 4-Pronged Future Focus; Zero Proof Rebrand, ClawTails Launch, Core Nostalgia
And go deeper with the company’s plans coming into the year:
Mark Anthony Brands President Dishes on Simplified 2025 Portfolio, Spirits-Based RTD Learnings