A Giant Plant in Illinois Now Makes Unexpected Layoffs

April 16, 2024

A giant plant in Illinois now makes unexpected layoffs as it sets to permanently close, following the impact of a recent recall.

PepsiCo is permanently closing a Quaker Oats plant that was temporarily shuttered recently after products it made were recalled due to Salmonella contamination.

An Illinois WARN notice showed that a total of 510 employees would be laid off.

The Danville, Illinois, plant, which has been operating for 55 years, will close June 8, according to a Facebook post from the city.

Food Safety News said the facility manufactured more than 60 products recalled in December 2023 and January 2024.

In a statement, Quaker said it determined “that meeting our future manufacturing needs would require an extended closure for enhancements and modernization.”

Production is shifting to other facilities.

Quaker has baking plants in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Columbia, Missouri, as well as one in Ontario, Baking Business reported.

PepsiCo said operating profit in Quaker Oats North America in 2023 declined 19% to $492 million due to the recall, operating cost increases and higher commodity costs, among other expenses.

These impacts were offset by higher pricing and productivity savings.

Food manufacturers have been closing some facilities and opening or expanding existing plants to right-size production and improve efficiencies across their manufacturing networks.

In most cases, closing locations would be too expensive to retrofit with new equipment or to make them more environmentally friendly, reports Food Dive.

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Also Read: A Massive Grocery Brand Now Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

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This massive mall retailer now closes for good as theft drives its downtown area into a “doom loop”, say officials.

Macy’s has closed store doors for good alongside pharmacies and gas stations in Missouri.

St. Louis, Missouri used to have a busy downtown area, however, it’s become a dangerous place stricken with crime and empty office buildings, reports The US Sun.

A report from the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday described the “real estate nightmare” with stories of boarded-up shops and raids by police and firefighters to search for squatters and missing people.

These raids can be chaotic at times – in 2023, a search dog fell through an open window and died. Another time, a fire broke out by who authorities believed to be copper thieves.

The largest building in the city, a 44-story mammoth once owned by AT&T, is now empty after it was sold for about $3.5 million, a massive decline from 2006 when it sold for $205 million.

“Cities such as San Francisco and Chicago are trying to save their downtown office districts from spiraling into a doom loop. St. Louis is already trapped in one,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

The locals are perhaps the most fed up than anyone regarding the state of downtown with many finding the empty shops and restaurants depressing, resulting in fewer people commuting there.

The seemingly endless cycle ramped up in the years after the pandemic, which emptied out office buildings.

St. Louis’ central business district used to be home to steep foot traffic compared to other major US cities and while it has improved in the last year, it’s at a slower rate than many cities in the Midwest.

The city has also been losing residents since the Covid pandemic with the population dropping below 300,000 in 2020 – the first time this has happened since the mid-1800s.

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Also Read: A Massive US Bank Is Now Freezing Customers’ Money

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