American Beverage Association (ABA) CEO Kevin Keane detailed at a Daily Caller Live event Thursday how the beverage industry supports American jobs and the U.S. economy.
Daily Caller CEO Elijah Moorman sat down with Keane Thursday to discuss how his organization supports the beverage industry.
“The beverage industry has been a staple of the American economy for a long time. Everyone anecdotally—they can see—they can buy a Coca-Cola at every store, or even in stores that don’t sell beverages a lot of the time,” Moorman noted. “Can you give us some insight into the current scale of its impact in terms of jobs and the economy?” (RELATED: Daily Caller To Host Manufacturing Event With Sec. Howard Lutnick)
“I think that’s one of the insights we really want to get across. We are a great American industry, we are actually an American origin story when it comes to our companies,” Keane replied. “A lot of people think there is Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper—one big large company. There are actually systems of companies.”
“Systems of individually owned, family-owned bottlers across the country,” he noted.
“These are the folks that actually bottle and manufacture products and take them to market—so they take them to the stores,” he added. “So if you see a Coca-Cola truck out front here at the CVS across the street, that’s actually Coca-Cola Consolidated in North Carolina, who has the Mid-Atlantic region.”
Keane noted that many of these consolidators are family owned and have been passed down generationally.
“We are a great American industry. We are an American origin story. We are systems of individual family owned bottlers.” – ABA President & CEO @KwKeane with @DailyCaller CEO @MoormanElijah.
Tune in: https://t.co/dfTb8WW5AU pic.twitter.com/4TW9Ilyyeg
— American Beverage (@AmeriBev) July 24, 2025
He also highlighted the ABA’s national footprint, emphasizing the industry’s contributions to manufacturing and well-paying jobs across the country.
“We have 4,000 facilities across the country all with great paying jobs as well, that’s something we are proud of,” he said. “That’s something people don’t fully understand, because when you are talking about building a stronger America and an American economy — that is our industry.”
“That is who we are and what we do,” he added.
Moorman followed up, pointing out the vast “network of bottlers” that supports the beverage industry.
Many of the roles in the beverage industry revolve around logistics and getting products to the market efficiently, Keane told Moorman.
“In warehouses you have people working the bottling lines making the product. You have a packaging department, you have the folks with forklifts loading up the trucks.”
“It’s a diverse array of workers — you have a sales force, you have people out in a market who work with the stores, load the shelves,” he added.
Keane noted that merchandisers are also an integral part of the industry.
“Then you have the merchandisers — have you ever been into the stores and you have seen those cool displays built? Those are done by these merchandisers who come up with these creative ideas,” he said.
Daily Caller CEO @MoormanElijah: “Can you give us some insight into the current scale of [the beverage industry’s] impact in terms of jobs and economics?”@AmeriBev CEO @KwKeane: “When you’re talking about building a stronger America and an American economy–that is our… pic.twitter.com/7l2qJuLHsi
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 24, 2025
“Those are the jobs the president is talking about. Those are the working-class jobs that are good paying. They allow you to put down roots in a community, raise a family, grow in that community,” Keane said. (RELATED: ELLIOT RESNICK: We Could Use Fewer College Graduates)
Keane emphasized the industry’s appeal, particularly to individuals who are looking to avoid the debt associated with college degrees.
The Daily Caller Live event was presented by the American Beverage Association in Washington, D.C.