(UPDATED 4 p.m.) Caito Foods LLC, Indianapolis, plans to close its fresh-cut facility and discontinue those products.
The decision was caused by a “recent unforeseen cancellation of a customer contract” that makes up the majority of the company’s fresh-cut business, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act letter filed with the state Indianapolis. The letter is dated Feb. 27.
The WARN Act requires companies to provide advance notice of plant closings and mass layoffs; Caito Foods plans to lay off 330 employees with the fresh-cut facility closing, according to its letter.
The letter does not give a closure date for the facility’s shutdown, but employment terminations will be in a two-week period starting about April 27. The name of the fresh-cut customer that cancelled its business was not named by the company.
“This notification does not impact the Caito Foods produce distribution operations which have been the foundation of the Caito business since 1965,” according to a company statement from Meredith Gremel, vice president of corporate affairs and communications at SpartanNash.
SpartanNash acquired Caito Foods in 2017.
SpartanNash’s statement said the decision was made “to support the company’s strategy to deliver locally produced fresh-cut fruits and vegetables to its independent and national account customers, as well as corporate-owned retail stores.” The statement does not clarify the source of the local fresh-cut fruit, or if it plans to source fresh-cut from third-party processors in various markets, and SpartanNash has not responded to requests for comments.
In 2019, SpartanNash closed the Fresh Kitchen operations, Indianapolis, which was part of the Caito acquisition.
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