Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Wednesday, February 11th.

Today on Forbes, how America's most popular iced tea company brewed up a $1.7 billion

family fortune.

When Trisha Walwork took the helm of her family's seven decades-old sweet tea business, Milo's had 40 employees and one facility

in Alabama that ran a single shift every few days. Now there are more than a thousand employees

and three plants producing her family's iced tea, 24-7. The 50-year-old Walwork says,

quote, Milo's really is this great American growth story.

The granddaughter of Milo Carlton, who started serving the sweet tea at his hamburger shop in Birmingham,

which grew into a fast food chain in the 1980s, adds, quote,

Our hockey stick is real, and I know it because I lived it.

A third-generation CEO, Walwork runs her family's $500 million in 2025 estimated revenue business.

Under her leadership over the past 13 years, case volume has grown tenfold, and the business

has maintained a compound annual growth rate

of more than 20%, as it has transformed into America's most popular refrigerated iced tea brand.

While many Maha Americans have turned to artificial sweeteners or completely eliminated sugar from

their diets, Milo's sweet tea is full sugar, with 26 grams of cane sugar

per serving.

Milo says it's, quote, pure and non-GMO.

The tea has found a loyal customer base.

Milos produced some 200 million gallons last year, or about 2 billion servings.

As one food industry investor puts it, it all proves that sugar

consumption is, quote, still alive and well. Still based in Alabama, Milo's became the top-selling

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