May 25--TreeHouse Foods, an Oak Brook-based private-label food manufacturer, announced plans Tuesday to close plants in Wisconsin and California.
Both facilities were part of TreeHouse's $2.7 billion acquisition of ConAgra Foods' struggling store-brand business. The plant in Ripon, Wis., employed about 60 people and produced sugar wafer cookies, which TreeHouse is discontinuing because of declining demand, according to a TreeHouse news release. The facility is expected to shut down in the fourth quarter of this year.
The Azusa, Calif., plant has about 660 employees and manufactures bars and snack products, which will be made in other TreeHouse plants after the shutdown. That plant is expected to close in the second quarter of next year, the release said.
"The decision is being announced well in advance of the closure in order to provide employees with as much notice as possible and to ensure a seamless transition for customers," the news release said. "(TreeHouse) does not expect supply disruptions during the transition."
TreeHouse expects the plant closings to cost about $17 million.
