Del Monte Foods has announced that it will be closing its plant in Hanford in the coming months. The company sent a formal notice to the Kings County Board of Supervisors, stating that the facility will close in late March and that 378 employees will lose their jobs starting on March 28. This notice complies with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which mandates a 60-day notice period before mass layoffs. Reports emerged last month about Del Monte’s plans to sell the Hanford tomato plant, with expectations from the Teamsters Union of 400 to 500 layoffs. The closure is part of Del Monte’s efforts to manage its high debt load and restructuring process. Despite this, all other Del Monte food processing plants in the U.S. and Mexico will remain operational.
