In September 2024, I went to the AriZonaLand grand opening and media tour of its new factory in Keasby, NJ. And then I waited for them to open for public tours. I waited. And waited. And finally in November 2025, they opened. So now I can publish my post on touring the AriZona Iced Tea factory with kids.
Since my tour was more than a year ago, it’s possible some things have changed. I plan to go back. But in the meantime, here’s what you’ll see at the AriZona Iced Tea factory with kids.
There’s two parts to the AriZonaLand experience. The storefront, which has a decently big (and fun) gift shop. Upstairs, before you enter the factory are two museum-type display areas. One has displays about the factory, components, and tea in general. The other has displays of their cans, bottles, and other memorabilia. They also have a sampling area upstairs, though I’m not sure if that’s in regular use or just for special occasions. The other news reports say you get free tastings, including new flavors.
Inside the factory
You’ll need to wear closed-toe shoes and likely a hair net inside. When we were there, it was super hot inside, so make sure you can take your sweater off if you have one. I was surprised to see a gym set up on the upper level, overlooking the floor. Unless you like doing hot yoga, you would probably faint from exercising there.
You’ll smell the flavorings—we smelled peach.
The factory is not only modern, but attractive. They’ve added some framed can art, and they feature some old trucks.
The carpet design is the same as the cherry blossom cans. It looks nice. There are a few overviews that also have decorative elements, for photos or maybe even parties.
AriZona Iced Tea factory details
The factory has five filling lines for different drinks and flavors, and with co-packing capabilities.
It contains a U.S. Beverage Packers Plastipak facility on site, to blow mold the plastic gallon jugs and also plastic bottles. This reduces the carbon footprint. The production line uses 466 degree heat to mold the bottle. Some bottles go through an additionalThermoShape step after pasteurization. Since the bottom of the container expands during hot liquid filling, there is extra space left in the bottle when it cools. The ThermoShaping reshapes the bottom by reheating it.
The bottles can be filled less than 3 minutes after the bottle is produced.
They use plastic resin, transported by rail car (you can see the rail line outside). The rail track allows the resin and also sugar to be piped directly into the facility via underground pumps and piping.
One rail load of resin beads makes 709,000 gallon bottles, saving them from 124 truck trips.
AriZona says they are one of the biggest aluminum producers in the country. They use some recycled aluminum in thier cans.
Most of their drinks (except carbonated ones) are heat pasteurized for at least 26 seconds at 190 degrees before cooling for the fill. The bottles are then immediately sealed. This allows them to avoid using preservatives in beverages, and the bottles won’t break. The process does not require vacuum-sealing. These bottles have a slight internal positive pressure, which is better for load resistance. It also extends their shelf life at ambient temperatures. They get to about 105 degrees in the cooling tunnel, which allows them to then be packed.
The iced tea then goes through a high-speed inspection. They go through a cooling tunnel, then the bottles are blown dry. They are aligned for the packer, with 4 gallons per box. They are covered with plastic, with the film shrinked around the box. This adds stability and protection. A robot palletizer stacks the boxes and wraps them for transit. They are then forklifted to the warehouse.
The syrups are made in this facility. The syrup is 20% of the total mixture.
The factory has direct object printing. They can apply print on the containers, instead of needing a label. They don’t use traditional paper labels. This reduces waste, inventory, and emissions. It also allows them to make changes within 24 hours. They have unlimited printing capabilities and can change for special promotions without an issue. The ink is environmentally friendly and recyclable.
The facility is 620,040 sq ft and can produce 60 million cases a year. They make beverages with 25+ flavors. Construction on this factory began in 2017, taking about 4 years to complete.
AriZona Iced Tea has 430 employees, and 400 work in the factory. They run three shifts Monday through Friday and shifts on Saturday too.
For my manufacturing readers
Fun fact: the facility is one of the largest batching valve matrix system installations in the industry. There are 96 mix-proof valves, making it easy to change products and recipes. It helps them manage product storage, batching, blending, and transferring.
Each machine center has its own VPN, allowing vendors to log in remotely if needed to help troubleshoot.
They have camera systems that capture video the 30 seconds before, during, and after experiencing an issue. This allows them to troubleshoot whether on site or across the world.
The warehouse system stores 84 million pounds of finished products. The palettes are automatically stored and inventoried in their warehouse using a fully automated tracking and retrieval process.
Fun Facts about AriZona Iced Tea
It was not started in Arizona. It was started in Brooklyn, in 1992. The founder liked the Arizona name and ascetic but had not actually visited the state. The founder, Don Vultaggio, is 6’8”. You can see how tall that is in one of the upstairs displays. His wife designed some of the logos and branding.
They make hard iced tea too, and they bottle it here.
They produce 85 types of tea, juices, waters, and beers (beers?).
They roll out 4,730 beverages per minute, totalling 6.8 million beverages daily, and about 3 billion containers a year.
AriZonaLand is in Keasby, next to their warehouse. They have other warehouses in Edison.
US Beverage Packers built a state-of-the-art 650,000 sq ft manufacturing facility and a 20,000 sq ft tractor and trailer maintenance facility adjacent to the factory.
The headquarters is actually in New York.
If you go to the AriZona Iced Tea factory with kids
You won’t see me when you go to their website, but that was the grand opening I attended.
Public tours: Register in advance to tour the AriZona Iced Tea factory with kids. Wear closed-toe, flat shoes. They have a list of what to wear on the website.
I just went on the website to look at availability, and it looks like there is zero availability until January. But when I click on January and February, the highlighted days (Tuesdays and Thursdays) say they are all booked. There is nothing listed for March and beyond. So keep checking back. It must be popular.
Private tours: For groups of 10-22. I had the same experience – nothing is available at present.
Tour length: 45-60 minutes for the guided factory tour. Leave time for the displays.
Accessibility: If you have accessibility needs, check with them. The website mentions needing to walk down one flight of stairs and that was my experience. Plus the flight of stairs up to the upper level. But perhaps they have elevators you can use – I don’t know.
Location: AriZonaLand is at One Arizona Way, Keasbey (know that you have drive past the warehouse, and keep going. Go past the giant artistic iced tea can. Keep going until you see the adobe-type building on the left. It will be obvious then.
