Dive Brief:
- Pinnacle Foods Inc. is planning to add 90 jobs to its newly expanded plant in St. Elmo, IL. The plant produces salad dressings, syrups, and barbecue sauces.
- This move will more than double the facility's current workforce of 85.
- The $50 million expansion project began in April 2014 and includes a 40,000-square-foot addition to the building, new equipment, and infrastructure improvements.
Dive Insight:
When companies close or expand operations at their facilities, this can have a huge impact on the local community, especially smaller towns like St. Elmo, IL, whose residents depend on such manufacturing jobs. It's good to hear about one small town enjoying the expansion of a local food plant, especially as many other food companies are having to cut hundreds or thousands of jobs. Bacardi recently announced that it is slicing about 10% off of its North American workforce. Earlier this year, General Mills was in a union tussle over closing one of its small town Pillsbury plants. Many also fear that Kraft Foods Group will see intensive job cuts following the merger, just like its merger partner H.J. Heinz Co. did when it was taken over by 3G Capital. And considering Heinz CEO Bernardo Hees' video to Kraft employees, change appears to be coming.