OAK BROOK, ILL. — TreeHouse Foods, Inc. plans to close manufacturing plants in Azusa, Calif., and Ripon, Wis. The Azusa plant manufactures bars and snack products, and the Ripon plant manufactures private label sugar wafer cookies.
The Azusa plant employs 660 and it is expected to be completely shuttered during the second quarter of 2017. Products produced at the plant will be transferred to other manufacturing plants within the TreeHouse network.
The Ripon plant employs 60 and is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2016. The company said it has decided to discontinue the manufacture of sugar wafer products due to declining demand.
Both plants were part of the company’s acquisition of the ConAgra Foods private brands business this past February. Costs associated with the closings are estimated to be $17 million, of which $14.5 million is expected to be in cash. The company expects approximately $1.1 million of the charges to be incurred in the second quarter of this year and approximately $4 million on a quarterly basis beginning in the third quarter of 2016 through the second quarter of 2017.
