Food Industry Layoffs

Snack Food Firms Issue Layoff Notices: Santa Fe Springs-based Bell Brand Snack Foods Inc. and Oakland-based Granny Goose Foods Inc. said they have notified their 483 and 600 employees, respectively, that layoffs are likely in 60 days. Parent company G.F. Industries Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., has been trying to sell Granny Goose and Bell Brand since January. Bell Brand produces snacks under the Bell Brand, Laura Scudder's and Compadres labels.

Kellogg Co. announced it will close most of its historic hometown plant in Battle Creek, Mich., and cut about 550 jobs in its latest effort to revive a sagging bottom line. Kellogg is the third-largest employer in the community of 56,000, which calls itself "Cereal City." The company said it would offer assistance to workers whose jobs are eliminated.

In a move to consolidate marketing, research and other administrative activities in Minneapolis, Pillsbury said Tuesday that it will close the Long Beach headquarters of its Van de Kamp frozen food unit at the end of October. The closure will affect 81 employees--mostly administrative, marketing and information system personnel and 12 workers who staff Van de Kamp's test kitchen. The company informed the affected employees of the decision Monday afternoon.

ConAgra Inc. said it will shed 7,000 of its 83,000 workers and close dozens of processing plants and storage depots as part of a restructuring aimed at saving $600 million a year. Specific locations were not named. The Omaha-based firm is the country's second-largest food company and is known for brands such as Butterball turkeys, Peter Pan peanut butter and Armour foods.

Steve Edney was there 40 years ago when America's tuna canning industry came of age on Terminal Island. And in its own way, he says, the gritty industrial heart of Los Angeles Harbor was every bit as important as New York's Ellis Island to the immigrants who found work in the canneries. Every day for decades, he remembers, thousands of cannery workers would come to work on the ferries from San Pedro or by car across the Henry Ford Bridge.

Chain Cuts 50 Jobs: Food 4 Less Supermarkets Inc., the La Habra grocery giant that operates Alpha Beta, Boys, Viva and its warehouse stores, has cut about 50 jobs from its headquarters work force of 1,500. President George Golleher said the cuts were made through a management streamlining. All but about 20 of the workers whose positions were eliminated were given other jobs in the stores.

Hunt to Cut Jobs at Fullerton Plant: The food company will lay off more than 300 workers, half of its full-time force, and drop 550 of 1,100 seasonal positions at the plant as the firm streamlines its tomato processing business. The cuts are needed to shift from a seasonal packaging line that produces ketchup, stewed tomatoes and spaghetti sauces to a year-round process focusing on a variety of products made from tomato paste, said Hunt Foods Co. President Ed Snell.

Nabisco Holdings Corp., maker of snack mainstays such as Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers, moved Monday to cut nearly 8% of its work force in a restructuring that reflects increased competition among food companies. The subsidiary of food and tobacco conglomerate RJR Nabisco Inc. said it is making changes that will cut its overhead by about $200 million a year and "accelerate strong, sustainable earnings growth into the next century."

Union Workers OK Kellogg's Layoff Plan: The Battle Creek, Mich.-based company's plan to eliminate more than 1,200 jobs by offering enhanced retirement benefits or cash buyouts was easily approved by unionized hourly workers, officials said. Workers in five states were eligible to vote, and 88% accepted the deal negotiated by Kellogg Co. and the American Federation of Grain Millers, Larry Jackson, the union's president, said in Minneapolis.

Snack Food Firms Issue Layoff Notices: Santa Fe Springs-based Bell Brand Snack Foods Inc. and Oakland-based Granny Goose Foods Inc. said they have notified their 483 and 600 employees, respectively, that layoffs are likely in 60 days. Parent company G.F. Industries Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., has been trying to sell Granny Goose and Bell Brand since January. Bell Brand produces snacks under the Bell Brand, Laura Scudder's and Compadres labels.

When the Super Kmart Center opened here in November, Dan Kettridge solemnly told his wife to forget about trading in their '87 Toyota. Then the 45-year-old Ralphs market checker rushed to renew his state insurance license. And he started taking courses to be a certified financial planner. "If Super Kmart has the impact it says it will, I definitely need to have Plan B," said Kettridge, a bear of a man with a bushy mustache.

RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. on Tuesday became the latest consumer products company to take drastic steps to cut costs, announcing it will slash 6,000 jobs in a restructuring aimed at saving $250 million a year. The maker of Winston and Camel cigarettes, Ritz crackers and Oreo cookies said it will take an after-tax charge of $445 million in the fourth quarter to pay for the companywide overhaul.

Hunt to Cut Jobs at Fullerton Plant: The food company will lay off more than 300 workers, half of its full-time force, and drop 550 of 1,100 seasonal positions at the plant as the firm streamlines its tomato processing business. The cuts are needed to shift from a seasonal packaging line that produces ketchup, stewed tomatoes and spaghetti sauces to a year-round process focusing on a variety of products made from tomato paste, said Hunt Foods Co. President Ed Snell.

In a new blow to the fragile Orange County economy, Hunt Foods Co. announced Friday that it will lay off hundreds of workers next month when it reconfigures its tomato-processing plant here. The company, a division of Hunt-Wesson Inc., said it will reduce its work force by roughly half, resulting in the layoff of about 225 year-round workers plus the elimination of 300 seasonal positions.