Mondelēz International has announced that it will close its Enjoy Life Foods (EFL) baked goods factory in Jefferson, Indiana.
The closure – which the snacks company announced via a statutory filing with the state government – will impact a number of employees. According to the company, several rounds of employment terminations will take place, with the first impacting 105 employees on 3 July.
At the end of the layoffs, Mondelēz expects to cut a total of 166 jobs.
In a statement to FoodBev Media, the company said: “Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the number and variety of offerings consumers now have to choose from in the ‘free-from’ snacking space, which prompted us to reevaluate our offerings of our Enjoy Life Foods products”.
“While we remain committed to Enjoy Life Foods, we need to ensure that ELF can continue to grow in a way that makes sense for the business. As part of this shift, we have decided to exit our lease for the ELF manufacturing plant we have in Jeffersonville, Indiana as we refocus and narrow our portfolio. We have shared this news with our employees and will spend the next few months phasing out production at that site.”
“We will continue to make our most-loved consumer-favourite ELF snacks as we transition operations to external manufacturing with capabilities to produce our delicious, high-quality products. Even with this change, as we have always been, ELF will be an ally of allergen families and consumers, continuing to focus on their specific needs and creating tasty foods that are free-from 14 allergens.”
The ELF facility operates three production lines, including a snack bar line that can produce 780,000ft of bars monthly; a cookie line, which can make 7.1 million cookies a month; and a chocolate line, which can make 1,500 tonnes of baking chocolate each year.
Mondelēz acquired the ELF brand back in 2015.
The filing states that the closure will be permanent, with the facility to shutter on or before 1 April 2024.
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