White Claw owner to axe 143 US jobs
Mark Anthony Group is planning to cut 143 jobs at its Hillside facility in New Jersey, US, where production will be halted from October.
As required by US labour law, Mark Anthony Brewing filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (Warn) notice that stated the group would cut 143 jobs at the plant near Newark between 23 September and 3 November 2025. The Warn Act requests employees to give a 60-day notice before a mass layoff, plant closure or relocation.
The company confirmed that operations at the Hillside site would be paused from 1 October this year. The facility produces Mike’s Hard Lemonade, White Claw Hard Seltzer, Cayman Jack and MXD Cocktails.
Colin Nolan, executive vice-president at Mark Anthony Brewing, said the group remained committed to the “state-of-the-art” facility, which he described as a “significant investment in 2020”.
He continued: “We have temporarily paused operations due to the recent alcohol industry slowdown, and we are very much looking forward to resuming operations at a suitable time in the future.
“We are a family business and are approaching this transition with care and respect for our team members, offering meaningful support throughout the process.”
According to the Mark Anthony Brewing website, the Hillside brewery spans 440,000 square feet and produced 11.7 million cases in 2024. It also noted that the site, which opened in June 2020, has more than 170 full-time employees.
The facility was Mark Anthony Brewing’s first in-house manufacturing location and includes a nursing room and on-site gym.
The opening of the Hillside brewery was followed by a site in Glendale, Arizona, that opened in October 2020 as part of a US$250m-plus investment. A year later, Mark Anthony opened a brewery in Columbia, South Carolina.
Across the three US plants, the group has more than 900 workers.
Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Mark Anthony Brewing is part of privately held company Mark Anthony Group.
The group’s head office is in Vancouver, Canada. It also operates a global innovation centre and its international sales and marketing office in Dublin, Ireland.
Mark Anthony is the leading importer and distributor of wine and premium spirits in Canada, with sales and marketing offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.
The group’s portfolio also includes Canadian whisky Bearface, Canadian spirits brand Dillon’s, and Irish whiskey and gin brand Glendalough.
White Claw remains the biggest hard seltzer player with an estimated 58% share of the market.
However, it has seen its volumes decrease in recent years. The brand reported nine-litre case sales of 71.5 million in 2024, according to data provided by the company, but failed to grow in the last two years.
The brand has also diversified its offering, adding a flavoured vodka range, canned vodka and sodas, and ready-to-drink Tequila seltzers to its lineup in the last two years.
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