The Quaker Oats Company announced Wednesday it is permanently closing its factory in Danville, Illinois, with upwards of 500 employees to be impacted.
The News-Gazette reports Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. confirmed the news to the wider community, with city officials saying:
Today, we learned that after 65 years of production in Danville, Pepsico will close Quaker Oats effective June 8, 2024.
The business has already ceased production but will continue to pay their employees through that time. While this shocks and saddens us, we will unite as a community to help those who have lost their employment.
Williams said he is unsure whether any of the affected employees are being transferred or if they are all being laid off.
A mass layoff “has a terrible impact on the employees and their families,” he said. “It also causes some anxiety to the community at large as well.”
Chicago-based Quaker Oats, a unit of Pepsico since 2001, opened the plant in 1969.
In recent years, the Danville facility manufactured Quaker Oats granola bars, but it had also made cereal and pancake mix.
In a statement, Quaker Oats said that after a granola bar recall in December, they decided it was best to consolidate manufacturing of the product in a newer facility.
“We do not make this decision lightly and recognize the impact it will have on our employees, their families, and the Danville community,” the company statement continued. “We have notified our workforce and are working closely with our employees and local community officials to provide a supportive transition.
