110837003 © Oleg Dudko | Dreamstime.com / Cans of Red Bull energy are shown. The City of Chilliwack and Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation announced Wednesday (Feb. 8) that Chilliwack has been selected for a major facility investment in support of the company's North American expansion plans.

By Marcus Gordon

Red Bull energy drinks

Red Bull picks Chilliwack for its North American expansion plans

Feb 8, 2023 | 11:51 AM

CHILLIWACK — After an extensive Canadian site selection process, the Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation and City of Chilliwack jointly announced Wednesday morning (Feb. 8) that Red Bull has chosen Chilliwack for a major new facility investment in support of its North American expansion plans.

In a news release from the two agencies, CEPCO and the City of Chilliwack backed the Red Bull Global Operations team during their due diligence efforts to determine the optimum Canadian location for their significant new investment.

The new Red Bull facility will be a 15-acre property on Brannick Place in the Chilliwack Food and Beverage Processing Park. The facility will produce a premix of high-quality ingredients used in all Red Bull energy drinks. Currently, the formula is produced in Austria, and the Chilliwack location will be the only other facility in the world to provide premix ingredients required to meet high global demand.

“Red Bull’s decision to set up shop in Chilliwack is a fantastic investment for our community,” said Mayor Ken Popove. “On behalf of Council, I would like to thank CEPCO’s leadership for their hard work on this project and thank Red Bull for choosing Chilliwack. We are excited to have them here!”

The city and CEPCO say Chilliwack has earned a reputation as an excellent business location, due to an accessible and extensive road and rail transportation network, and the proximity of the Port of Vancouver and Sumas-Huntingdon border crossing. This, combined with Chilliwack’s business friendly approach to investment attraction, a skilled workforce, and a high quality of life in a scenic setting that aligns well with the overall Red Bull brand helped make it a good fit, the city and CEPCO said in a joint statement.

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“CEPCO has been supporting Red Bull for almost a year as they searched for the right location to invest,” said Brian Coombes, CEPCO president. “This good economic news is a great way to start 2023, as this new facility represents more jobs and an expanded corporate tax base for our growing community.”

Now that Chilliwack has been selected, and the property purchase completed, continued project planning and development preparations will occur during the remainder of 2023 in the lead up to the start of construction in 2024.

Dietrich Mateschitz founded Red Bull in the mid-1980s. He developed not only a new product, but also a unique marketing concept, and launched Red Bull Energy Drink in Austria on April 1, 1987. A completely new product category was born – caffeinated energy drinks. Red Bull launched in Canada in 2004, 17 years after the first can of Red Bull was sold in Austria. Today, Red Bull operates within 175 countries selling over 10 billion cans annually and growing. It employs over 15,000 employees.