Beverage giant Keurig Dr Pepper has confirmed that the closure of its K-Cup coffee pods manufacturing facility in Windsor, Virginia, will be postponed.
Keurig corporate communications senior director Katie Gilroy told Just Drinks that “we will be maintaining production at our Windsor facility through early 2025”.
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Operations at the plant were originally scheduled to be wrapped up by the end of this year. Keurig said the delay in the plans is intended to accommodate the “evolving supply chain needs of the business”.
The company, which produces the Dr Pepper and Snapple drinks brands and the single-serve K-Cups used in Keurig coffeemakers, first announced the closure of the Windsor site in July.
At the time, the company issued a WARN notice, with 379 employees at the facility at risk.
Although the closure timeline has been pushed back, the planned layoffs will remain “the same”. the company said.
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By GlobalDataThe decision was part of the company’s plans to “ramp” up operations at its South Carolina factory, which was opened in 2021 and specialises in coffee roasting and packaging K-Cup pods employing 155 people.
The US drinks group invested $100m in production, warehousing and distribution at the South Carolina site last year following a previous $385m injection.
The closure of the Windsor facility means Keurig’s US coffee-roasting plants will be reduced to five.
The Windsor site, a 330,000-square-foot facility in operation since 2012, is set to be sold once it ceases operations.
The facility and its land, valued at $22.7m last year, are being marketed for sale through CBRE Group, a Norfolk-based real estate firm, the Smithfield Times reported.
Last month, Keurig reported third-quarter net sales of $3.9bn, up 2.3% in reported terms and 3.1% adjusted.
For the US coffee segment, sales decreased 3.6% to $1bn, with volume/mix up 2.7% and pricing up 6.3%.
K-Cup Pod shipments declined 0.4%, “reflecting owned and licensed market-share gains in a still muted at-home coffee category”, Keurig said.
