Reynolds American Inc., a subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT), is expanding production at its operations center in Tobaccoville, North Carolina, to accommodate the company’s brand of smokeless nicotine pouches, Velo Plus.
Production began at the Tobaccoville center in the fall of 2024, a Reynolds spokesperson said, and the company is now looking to add hundreds of new local jobs.
“The Reynolds organization hired for over 500 jobs in 2024, the majority of which were directly related to our expanding smokeless portfolio, mainly Velo Plus, and aligning our sales force to be even more competitive in the market,” said Borgia Walker, senior vice president of human resources and inclusion at Reynolds American Inc. “In 2025, we intend to add an additional 300 positions, a combination of local manufacturing and national trade marketing roles.”
The center has more than two million square feet of finished floor space and multi-category manufacturing and is the largest manufacturing center in the global BAT Group, Reynolds said.
In convenience stores, modern oral nicotine pouches continue to stand out as a key driver for the other tobacco product (OTP) segment. Boris Oglesby, executive vice president and practice leader of alcoholic beverages and tobacco at Chicago market research firm Circana, called modern oral tobacco the “industry darling,” at CSP’s Tobacco Plus Forum in Schaumburg, Illinois, last September.
Photograph courtesy of Reynolds American Inc.
Velo Plus launched in December of 2024 as a new offering to the market.
“The nicotine pouch category is the fastest-growing product segment among adult nicotine consumers in the United States. The expansion of the Velo portfolio, with a higher moisture profile, greater flavor variety and a broader range of nicotine strengths, plays a significant role in addressing the diverse and evolving preferences of adult nicotine consumers and advances our vision to ‘build a smokeless world’,” said a Reynolds spokesperson.
Reynolds said Velo Plus is offered in stores of Reynolds Marketing Service Co.’s contracted retail partners in a majority of states where the company’s nicotine pouch products are already available to adult consumers, in compliance with those states’ respective regulations.
As the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based company widens its smokeless portfolio, the company said in a March 19 statement that it is committed to “ensuring adult smokers who are uninterested in quitting tobacco products altogether have access to innovative, potentially less risky alternatives to combustible cigarettes.”
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