Unilever To Expand Jefferson City Factory To Make Liquid I.V.

June 5, 2024

$80 million will be spent on the 58-year-old Missouri plant to make the trendy powdered hydration mix.

Unilever will spend more than $80 million to expand its facility in Jefferson City, Mo., to add operations capabilities for the production of Liquid I.V., a powdered hydration mix within its Health & Wellbeing business.

Unilever will add automated packaging lines, a blending room operation and modifications to required infrastructure, such as heating and cooling to make the functional electrolyte powder, which Unilever claims “has become the number one powdered hydration brand in America.” They say the product enhances the rapid absorption of water and other key ingredients into the body.

Liquid I.V. was acquired by Unilever in October 2020, and it’s now four times larger than it was before the acquisition. Before this, the Jefferson City plant focused on personal hygiene items, such as Dove, Vaseline, Axe, SheaMoisture, Nexxus and TRESemmé.

The company previously announced a separate $25 million investment in its Jefferson City facility in January. The Jefferson City location has been in operation since 1966 and employs more than 450 workers.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.