Kraft Foods To Shutter Bentonville Plant

Jamie Smith with our content partner, The City Wire, reports that Kraft Foods will shutter a manufacturing facility next year in Bentonville, a move that will displace 60 workers and lead to the sale of the property.

The closure is described as a “strategic decision” by the firm.

The 65,000 sq. ft. plant in Bentonville has been in operation since 1947. Kraft makes ingredient cheeses used by other Kraft plants.

From The City Wire:

“This is not a reflection on our employees in Bentonville,” said Jim Durkin, vice president of operations for Kraft’s Cheese and Dairy business unit. “This is a strategic decision that has nothing to do with their performance, which has been excellent. We will be working with our employees to help them through this transition.”

Joyce Hodel, Kraft’s spokeswoman, said via email Tuesday evening that “Kraft will offer employees a separation package that includes severance pay based on years of service, financial assistance to help pay for medical insurance after the plant closure, and outplacement assistance. If employees are interested in jobs at other Kraft sites, they will be given priority for those positions.”

“After careful analysis and review, we identified some opportunities to combine production, gain efficiencies and reduce expenses in our Cheese and Dairy network,” Durkin said. “We’ll achieve greater efficiencies of scale by combining the majority of the plant’s production with external partners. Bentonville is a smaller plant and its size isn’t suitable for the scale the company needs going forward.”

You can read the full report here.