Alabama’s Cane Brew lands major retail breakthrough

The Bay Minette-based company Cane Brew announced that its sweet tea and unsweetened tea products are now being carried in 618 Walmart stores, marking the biggest retail milestone yet for the Alabama company. 

For Cane Brew, the Walmart rollout is said to represent much more than another place to sell tea. "It is a major vote of confidence for a company that was founded and remains headquartered in Alabama, and whose growth is taking a product developed on the Gulf Coast to consumers throughout the Southeast," the company said in its press release.

Cane Brew was founded in Bay Minette, where co-founder Adam Stewart spent years developing a process that allows pure cane sugar to be incorporated directly into a tea bag. The result is a product designed to eliminate some of the traditional work involved in making homemade sweet tea. Consumers can place the bag in cool water, no boiling and no measuring sugar.

That idea has now taken an Alabama company from its hometown roots to one of the most coveted retail shelves in America.

An Alabama idea reaches a national retailer

Cane Brew calls its product the first tea bag to have pure cane sugar built directly into the bag, allowing customers to make traditional sweet tea using cool water. One bag makes a half-gallon pitcher, while two can make a gallon.

The Walmart agreement significantly expands Cane Brew’s retail footprint. The company already sells through Piggly Wiggly, Rural King, Schnucks, Rouses Markets, Lowes Foods and Greer’s Markets, in addition to online sales. Piggly Wiggly alone carries the product in 221 Alabama stores.

For a business born in Baldwin County, placement in more than 600 Walmart locations represents the kind of retail breakthrough that can dramatically increase a brand’s visibility, distribution, and opportunity for future growth.

It also puts another Alabama-created product in front of consumers throughout the region, highlighting the entrepreneurial and economic activity generated by companies that start, build, and grow in the state.

A Southern product with Alabama roots

The company describes sweet tea as part of the culture of the region, and Stewart saw an opportunity to modernize the way families make it without losing what makes the drink familiar.

“We knew there had to be a better way to make sweet tea at the house. Sweet tea is the table wine of the South, so why not make it easier, and a lot more fun?” Stewart said. 

The company’s products are made with pure cane sugar, Pekoe cut black tea and tea extract selected specifically for cool brewing. Cane Brew says its products contain no artificial ingredients, colors, sweeteners or preservatives and are made in the United States. The brand has also accumulated more than 3,400 customer reviews with an average rating of 4.8 stars. 

The product line has grown beyond traditional sweet and unsweet tea to include Peach, Strawberry, Watermelon, Triple Berry and Decaf varieties, along with a Lemongrass Lemonade line.

From a hometown company to Walmart shelves

For Alabama, the Cane Brew story illustrates what can happen when a locally developed idea finds a market well beyond the place where it started.

A product conceived and developed in Bay Minette is now sharing shelf space in hundreds of Walmart locations with some of the largest beverage brands in the country.

"For Cane Brew, that is a significant step in the evolution from an Alabama startup into a growing regional consumer brand," the company said.