Tetra Pak Celebrates 40 Years

Food for All in Denton

You’d be hard-pressed to find a home, school, or business across the U.S. that doesn’t have carton packaging produced by Tetra Pak in the pantry. Juice boxes, protein drinks, chicken broth … you name it, and Tetra Pak has likely packaged it — all while ensuring those and so many more food and beverage options are available where they’re needed most.  

As a global company, Tetra Pak’s commitment to protecting what’s good extends worldwide. But did you know that Tetra Pak’s U.S. and Canada headquarters are a lot closer to your own backyard than you initially thought?

That’s right — one of Tetra Pak U.S. and Canada’s largest sites is locally based in Denton. And this year, that fantastic team is celebrating its 40th anniversary. 

“Tetra Pak started in Sweden 72 years ago, but we definitely have our local roots established here in Denton,” said U.S. and Canada President and CEO Seth Teply. “It’s funny because so many people love what we do but don’t realize we’ve had a local presence for a very long time. Back in 1984, we started with a packaging converting factory with a team of 80 people. Fast forward to today, and we have roughly 725 team members on our expanded campus, and we’re on track to produce an estimated 6.8 billion food packages by the end of this year — just in our Denton factory.”

Tetra Pak Denton’s first carton package was produced on May 8, 1984. At the time, the plant was Tetra Pak’s first in the United States, producing 233 million packages that first year. Today, the 263,844-square-foot site includes a global IT hub, a product development center, a technical training center, a warehouse, packaging material production, and office space. 

Having the product development center onsite allows Tetra Pak’s customers to produce and test new beverages in Tetra Pak packages in an FDA-approved production facility. The technical training center provides high-quality training to members of their field force and customers alike, and the Denton campus is one of four locations worldwide supporting Tetra Pak’s global IT infrastructure. Denton is now also home to the world’s first digital printer for carton packages, enabling new promotional opportunities for brands by offering increased variability and flexibility in designs and order sizes and a higher print quality.

At the end of the day, Tetra Pak’s long-standing purpose is to commit to making food safe and available, everywhere and a promise to protect what’s good — food, people, and the planet. The company believes that access to safe and nutritious food is a right, not a privilege. 

While that may seem easy, how do you package a liter of milk, transport it to where it’s needed most, and know that when it’s eventually opened, it is still safe to consume? Tetra Pak focuses on innovative processing and packaging solutions and is known for pioneering aseptic, or shelf-stable, technology, which allows foods and beverages to last longer, be distributed further, and be stored without refrigeration or preservatives. 

This innovative technology underpins Tetra Pak’s ability to get food and beverages safely to the most remote parts of the world.

“Our goal is to develop the world’s most sustainable food package, and we are investing over $100 million annually towards that ambition,” Teply said. 

“The Denton factory is undergoing an expansion project in its finishing area, and this investment will help the factory produce over 10 billion packages annually to enable us to meet our customers’ needs for future growth, which will continue to bring new manufacturing jobs to
our facility.”

Teply added, “As we look to the future, we have a growing global population that needs access to safe and nutritious food. Tetra Pak will continue to lead the way towards secure, resilient, and sustainable global food systems.”

Clearly, Tetra Pak’s local team is very proud of what they do, and every day, they collaborate with customers, governments, NGOs, and consumers on activities that can drive systemic change. 

“Tetra Pak is an amazing company doing things that bring real value to the world. Knowing we are making a difference in sustainably feeding a growing population gives great meaning and purpose to our work,” Teply said. 

Discover Tetra Pak and its commitment to making food safe and available, everywhere, at tetrapakusa.com.